e-GOVERNMENT IN FINLAND - ePractice.eu

Figure 1.1. Organisation of e-government co-ordination responsibilities within the Finnish Ministry
of Finance
Source: OECD
Minister of
Finance
( Niinist ö)
The Information
Management Unit
The Ministry of
Finance
Minister at the
Ministry of
Finance ( Siimes)
Under Secretary of
State
Public
Management
Department
The Governance Policy
and Publi c Services Unit
13. To perform these tasks, the Public Management Department of the MoF has had an Information
Management Unit since 1967. In addition, the Government Information Management Unit was formed in
2002. This unit provides network services and shared applications for the ministries. Responsibility for
Government network connecting ministries and joint services was transferred from the Prime Minister’s
Office to the MoF and is under the supervision of an under secretary of state. With this transfer, the Prime
Minister’s Office ceded all responsibilities for day-to-day ICT co-ordination.
14. While the MoF is responsible for overall co-ordination of ICT initiatives, the MoI is responsible
through its Information Management Unit for vertical co-ordination and ensuring the diffusion and
exchange of standards, good practices and approaches at the regional and local levels. The MoI also
supervises inter-ministerial and interagency co-ordinating groups on electronic services. In addition,
between 1999 and 2001, the MoI was responsible for the JUNA project for promoting wide-ranging
collaboration among public authorities for the active production and use of electronic services which led to
a series of recommendations for improved collaboration (see Appendix 3, Part 8.3.6, for a more complete
description of the JUNA project).
15. The 2002 Action Programme to Promote Online Government (see Box 4.1) found multiple coordination
responsibilities for e-government to be a problem, as responsibility for overall policy coherence
was unclear. In January 2003, the parliament passed legislation giving the MoF full responsibility for egovernment
co-ordination within the central administration, though the MoI maintains responsibility for
co-ordination with regional and local government.
Key Points - 1
x The e-government organisational model for the central administration (central planning
and direction and decentralised responsibilities and implementation) requires a high level
of co-ordination in order to maintain policy coherence.
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The Government
Information
Management Unit