eGovernment Working Group 1st DG Troika Vienna, 24 March 2006

Focus on processes E-Government has caused growing interest in the business processes of the public sector. „Streamlining of business processes“ a task of EPAN working plan 2006 Austria commissioned an exploratory study in the management of business processes (BPM) in Europe. With the maturing of e-Government initiatives all over Europe the focus of the development has turned from front office applications to the back offices. In ICT-enabled public authorities there is a growing interest in applying a process view to service delivery, production and collaboration in order to maximise the potential of ICT. The working plan for the EPAN eGovernment working group also cites the streamlining of business processes as a potential activity for the group. This also shows the intention of the work programme to support the objectives of the i2010 action plan, notably the modernisation of public administration. In alignment with the EPAN working plan and to support its aims, Austria therefore commissioned an exploratory study in the European state of the field of a management approach called Business Process Management. The contract was awarded at the end of last year to an academic consortium and work has started at the beginning of January.

BPM contributes to… efficient public services through leaner and faster processes reduction of administrative burden through integration of processes modernisation through more systematic redesign of processes There are a number of reasons why BPM was chosen as an area of work: Firstly, tools and methods of BPM that originate from the private sector are increasingly adapted to the public sector. Similar to e-business, e-government uses ICT to make processes leaner and faster, resulting in more efficient services. Secondly, the integration of business processes, applications and data sources reduces administrative burdens for citizens and businesses. This ensures for example that the same data only has to be provided once and is not asked for again and again by different public authorities. Thirdly, the modernisation of the public sector is considered a key driver for Europe’s competitiveness. If this modernisation is to succeed, it has to be done in a broad and strategically planned fashion. BPM is an approach that gives a systematic and holistic view on public sector organisations.

For EPAN, BPM… is a cross presidency topic: Finland contiues on business process benchmarking links to work of previous presidencies links to work of other EPAN groups (HRG, IPSG) The Finnish presidency has agreed to continue on with the topic of BPM. Extending the topic to two presidencies would have the benefit of being able to investigate a complex problem in a longer period of time without turning to completely different issues with the handover of presidencies. Another reason is that awareness of organisational change and transformation can hardly be raised within one presidency. In Austria’s view, the subject of BPM is closely related to activities and studies carried out under past presidencies. Up to now, the eGovernment working group has explored various important aspects of eGovernment like identification numbers or eAccessibility. These investigations have laid the ground for a more comprehensive approach to look at the very heart of public administrations – its business processes. Redesigning business processes is a multi-disciplinary approach that influences the structures, the employees and the service provision of public organisations. Therefore, the work of the eGovernment working group will undoubtedly provide valuable inputs to other groups of the EPAN like the HR group and the IPSG.

Study Outline Contractor: University Linz Methodology: Tele-Delphi (online interviews) eGov WG meeting 4-5 May, Vienna: Good Practice Cases Recommendations for BPM in e-government Last December a consortium under the lead of the University of Linz (Upper Austria) was awarded the contract for conducting the study. The contractors have recently conducted BPM projects or worked on e-government and therefore provide experience and a high reputation in the research field. The proposed study will employ a Tele-Delphi methodology which means that two rounds of email based interviews are conducted. Between the two rounds the first results are feed back to the interviewees who themselves evaluate their answers and are then asked again in a second round. This method improves the quality and reliability of the results and provides immediate knowledge transfer to public sector managers. The intended output of the study are recommendations for public sector managers who wish to implement a business process view on e-government. The recommendations will address the applicability of tools and methods to the public sector as well as possible pitfalls and obstacles. For those not yet aware of BPM as a management approach, the potentials and benefits will be pointed out. The interim results of the study will be presented by the contractor during the e-government working group meeting on 4-5 May in Vienna. Delegates will have the opportunity to raise questions and to discuss with the contractor. The lessons learned from the study should not only present an academic view on business processes but also what this means for managing and working in public organisations in practice. It has yet to be decided whether a representative of the private sector will have the opportunity to comment on the findings and to give a presentation how the industry can assist public authorities with the implementation of BPM.

Thank you for your attention. Your questions? gerald.trost@bka.gv.at martin.spitzenberger@bka.gv.at