Simplification of administrative procedures: the Administrative Effort Index (AEI - IEB) MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS SPAIN 1 María Ángeles Martínez, Technical Advisor Department of Better Regulation AB Citizens Learning Group - EUPAN, 11 April 2008, Helsinki

1.Simplification Initiatives in Spain 2.AEI - Administrative Effort Index CONTENT

Simplification Initiatives in Spain: Context Plan MODERNIZA (2006 – 2008) to Improve the Public Administrations : Fields: Organization, Civil Service & Relationship with the citizens: - 24 hours Administration, with particular interest in the e-Administration. Simplification of administrative procedures for the citizens - Simplification of administrative procedures for the citizens. - Transparency & participation of the citizens. Plan AVANZA (2006 – 2010) for the Development of the Information Society Support of the changes in the rules & actions fostering development of the I.Society Digital Public Services  One of its main guidelines: Digital Public Services

Some iniciatives with origin in the abovementioned Plans for a more efficient Administration for the citizens & companies  060 Information Network: citizen-friendly & intercollaborative. Includes offices, telephone & eGovernment portal (more than 560 services from all three levels of government reached)  Law 11/2007 on Citizens’ Electronic Access to Public Services. Deadline: 31 dic Developped by Action Plan; guidelines: Adapt & Simplificate administrative procedures.  Digitales Services with the e-NID: secure identification & authentication, allowing citizens to securely access transactional electronic services.  Reduction of Administrative Burdens. Target: 25% reduction in

Project of the Ministry of Public Administrations: Catalogue, Analysis & Administrative Simplification of the Procedures  Simplify, modernize & digitalise the administrative procedures more related to citizens & business.  Only one updated database of procedures that enables the interadministrative collaboration.  To measure and reduce the administrative effort that business and citizens make to comply with the rules applied to them.

WEBSITE: internal use only

MAIN TOOLS OF THE PROJECT (I) SIA: Administrative Information System Catalogue of Administrative Procedures (Law 30/1992) Reports for each Ministry: using tools of analysis of information that provide feedback for their decission-making. IEB: Administrative Effort Index. Collaboration Tools: a space for exchanging experiences & best-practices regarding simplification & digitalisation of procedures.

MAIN TOOLS OF THE PROJECT (II) ARIS: Redesign of Procedures Pre-selection of Hight-Impact procedures (about 120 out of the 2,300): Citizens & Enterprises Social & Economic Activity Jobs creation Focused on the automatization & modernization of the Administration: reingeneering methodology and common solutions (Law 11/2007). Fields: - Technology (interoperability, channels, etc.) - Functions (reduction of activities & bottlenecks, etc.) - Organization (reduction of Units involved; resources for critical activities) - Rules (proposals of regulations for a better efficiency of the procedures)

Administrative Effort Index (AEI - IEB)

Administrative Effort Index - AEI Definition of AEI A comparative scale that enables the identification of the procedures involving most opportunities for simplification, focusing on those intended for citizens and/or companies.  Provides baseline measures of the “administrative effort” of citizens & enterprises according to internal data of the Administration, in line with the SMC.  Provides different results (absolute/relative), depending on the volume of groups affected.

Selection of Indicators (I) The definition of the AEI is based on a series of indicators grouped into blocks and weighted according to their importance. Assessing the situations that contribute to generating an effort for the citizen / business, the following indicators have been identified: Load Index Indicators  Volume of documentation to be submitted by the requester (citizen or business)  Average number of visits to the administration  Degree of automation, in terms of processing channels available; Based on e-Administration indicators (Targetisation, Transaction Two/one way interaction, Information, Others )  Number of administrative claims associated with the process compared to the total number of proceedings.  Processing percentage: assessed as the annual processing vs. potential annual processing (potential annual processing= group affected (citizens&businesses) multiplied by the frequency)

 Frequency with which the procedure is processed (times per year)  Average time required to process the procedure  Processing time index: the relation between the average time required to process the procedure and the time established by regulation  Assistance available for the interested party - citizen/ business (continuous, during morning and afternoon, morning) Volume  Group affected, for both citizens and businesses

Selection of Indicators (II): For each of the abovementioned factors, the following have been defined:  Description of the indicator  Responsible for it measurement –Unit responsible: the information must be entered by the department or body responsible for the procedure –Procedure information system (SIA): the value of the indicator is obtained based on the information entered in the procedure file  Assessment scale. A scale has been used to assess the indicators on the basis of the measurement range considered. –Range of the scale: values from 1 (minimum effort) to 10 (maximum effort) –In general, values are assigned according to the scale 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10; that is, with a jump of 2 except for the maximum value, with a view to spacing them out. Definition of AEI

Weighting Each of these indicators is weighted by means of a definition of weights. Weights have been defined by block or group and individual or absolute weights. The individual weightings have been defined by entering a new factor: the level of importance, with a range of between 1 and 5 (1 being the minimum and 5 the top level of importance). Indicators Weighting Level of importance Absolute weighting Volume of documentation to be submitted by the requester (citizen or business) 516,1% Average number of visits to the administration516,1% Degree of automation, in terms of processing channels available516,1% Number of administrative claims associated with the process compared to the total number of proceedings. 13,25% Processing percentage39,7% Frequency with which the procedure is processed516,1% Average time required to process the procedure39,7% Processing time index39,7% Assistance available for the interested party (citizen or business)13,25% TOTAL100%

Definition of AEI Calculation Rule: Two AEI’s are defined that allow an assessment of the volume of groups affected to be included: Assessment of individual indicators, without considering the volume of groups affected (Range 0 – 100) Individual indicators, weighted with the volume of groups affected (Range 0 – 100) Absolute AEI (AEI a ) Relative AEI (AEI)

CONCLUSSIONS This project improves simplification of procedures & administrative collaboration among Ministries, providing better transposition of the European iniciatives regarding eAdministration & modernisation. The assessment of the administrative effort is essential when assessing the impact on the economy, employment and society of a citizens’ relations with the Administration and the regulation of the procedures contained in the rules. Therefore, big interest in exchanging knowledge, experience and good practices with other European countries.

THANK YOU Any questions? 17 Mª Ángeles Martínez Mingueza