IGF 2022 Lightning Talk #38 Systems thinking approach to the development of effective, interoperable and inclusive digital government

Time
Wednesday, 30th November, 2022 (12:10 UTC) - Wednesday, 30th November, 2022 (12:40 UTC)
Room
Speaker's Corner

Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland
Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, Department of State Information Architecture, Mr. Michał Bukowski and Mr. Mariusz Przybyszewski

Speakers

Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, Department of State Information Architecture, Mr. Michał Bukowski and Mr. Mariusz Przybyszewski

Onsite Moderator

Mariusz Przybyszewski, Eastern European Group

Online Moderator

Mariusz Przybyszewski, Eastern European Group

Rapporteur

Mariusz Przybyszewski, Eastern European Group

SDGs

16.10
16.6
16.7

Targets: The presented topic links with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: 16.6. Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels: - Effectiveness is achieved by reducing digital government complexity by using architectural models. - Accountability is safeguarded by government procedures and regulations verifying government projects against Government Enterprise Architecture requirements. - Transparency is ensured by publishing Government Enterprise Architecture documents on the public internet portal. 16.7. Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels - Government Enterprise Architecture principles were consulted with all interested stakeholders, including citizens. All provided comments were published on the ministry’s website and influenced principles contents and formulations. We aim at further multistakeholder participation and co-creation. 16.10. Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements - Wide spectrum of Government Enterprise Architecture documents is published on Polish Interoperability and Government Enterprise Architecture portal. (www.ia.gov.pl)

Format

Onsite and online presentation with participants interactions

Duration (minutes)
30
Language
English
Description

How architecting the government helps enhance digital access to government services for a shared sustainable and common future? This lightning talk will present Poland's experience in development of Government Enterprise Architecture as way for achieving effective, interoperable and inclusive digital government. E-Government today requires more interoperability and better public management methods to involve all stakeholders (including citizens, NGOs, private and public sector employees) into designing and implementing digital government solutions satisfying all local, regional, national and transnational needs. To enable the stakeholder’s transition to active participation it's necessary to firstly present relevant information - such as digital government principles and models of electronic services - then encouraging everybody to engage in co-creation by consulting and engaging them. It builds more inclusive administration and more effective digital government at the same time. Application of systems thinking methods in public administration environment, such as Government Enterprise Architecture, allows for presentation and understanding of all dimensions of public administration - consisting of a vast number of actors, elements and interconnections. It leads to better understanding of as-is, to-be and transition states of digital government and is the way for effective multi-stakeholder engagement. Background paper: https://www.gov.pl/attachment/63f71ad7-1e7c-4867-9f89-b1a36e939b81

All participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and comment on presentation. Participants' comments will be moderated by onsite and online moderator. Dynamic words cloud (Mentimeter) function is planned to be available to participants during presentation to allow expressing opinions on what is the best way to engage citizens into digital government development. Presenter will comment on results on a basis of his presentation and Polish experiences. There will be a poll (Mentimeter) on how many different objects - such as legal acts, organizations, IT systems and public registers - are presently documented in the Polish government repository allowing for an effective digital government strategic planning.

Key Takeaways (* deadline 2 hours after session)

Public Administration is a complex system in different layers (cultural, legal, organizational, semantic, and technical). Thanks to systems thinking methods we can better understand and analyze it. Government Enterprise Architecture (GEA) is a tool to digital government transformation. Using GEA we define principles and models which contribute to increase in interoperability.

Session Report (* deadline 26 October) - click on the ? symbol for instructions

Lightning Talk #38 Systems thinking approach to the development of effective, interoperable and inclusive digital government”.

During the lightning talk the subject was presented according to background paper. Key issues from the presentations were the following:

•      What should be the approach to development of digital government? How it addresses different dimensions of sustainability?

•      How to tackle the complexity of public administration?

•      Explanations of systems thinking method and its benefits for citizens and administration.

•      Description of digital government layers.   

•      How abovementioned practice builds inclusive administration and more effective digital government at the same time?    

After the presentation some questions were raised by participants:

Q: (Representative of United Nations – Social Economic Affairs). Nation level e-services are very important but the city level is not less important. In survey which is launched by UN every year are looking at the cities, specially the most popular city in particular country (e.g. Warsaw in Poland). How much of Enterprise Architecture (EA)  ideas are spread among cities and municipalities in Poland?

A: Enterprise Architecture (EA) is at the begging implemented only in government bodies. Our aim is to make a cascade of this approach, from the strategic point of view (Minister of Digital Affairs), through all governmental administration, down to local administration. We are not harmonized yet but we are preparing  some legal acts and some funding which will support EA through all the country. Moreover we cooperate with unions of cities to promote this approach

 

Q: (Representative of lawyer company – Kenya). How do you apply this system in federal government?

A: Poland is not federal country but republic. However in Poland we have national interoperability framework which is about to be revised and EA requirements will be implemented in to this law.  Interoperability law is obligatory to all levels of administration so there will be the opportunity to create cascade mentioned before. We have also different funding system where requirements in those funds are in correlation to EA. Moreover local government solutions should not duplicate central and should be interoperable.

 

Q: (Representative of United Nations – Social Economic Affairs). How do you measure efficiency of digital government?

A: It is measured on the European level. There are some assessments of digital e-administration in Poland in comparison to European Countries. The results can be found on https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/. Efficiency can also be measured by number of solutions required to perform public tasks. Central reused solutions are more efficient contrary to several the same type solutions implemented in different institutions.

 

Q: (Representative of United Nations – Social Economic Affairs) What are polices and projects in Poland which developed digital skills and other projects which develop IT infrastructure?

A: (information provided after meeting) Digital Competences Development Programme is main current polish program referring digital skills. The basis for formulating priorities, goals and activities under the Program are key national and European strategic documents and conclusions from the diagnosis of digital competences in Poland. The assumptions of the Program also take into account the emerging trends in technology development and the competence needs of citizens depending on their social roles, from the moment of starting education, through career development, to the status of a senior citizen. Assigning goals and activities for the development of digital competences in such a system corresponds to the assumptions of public interventions, putting people and their needs at the centre of activities and is consistent with the idea of lifelong learning. The main premise for defining the goals is the development of an information society that consciously, effectively and safely uses digital technologies in its private and professional life.

The Common State Infrastructure Program is responsible for increasing the security of data processed in ICT systems of public administration entities and optimizing the costs of maintaining these systems. The introduction of uniform, high standards of protection of IT systems and supporting public administration entities in maintaining these systems and obtaining services necessary for their construction, development and maintenance will contribute to ensuring a high level of services provided to the public by public administration. The program assumes the optimization of the existing ICT resources and applications in public administration by providing modern and cost-optimal information technologies. This way of functioning of the public administration will allow to set priorities in increasing the level of security, comprehensive migration plans, as well as balancing the use of cloud solutions.

 

Q: (Representative of United Nations – Social Economic Affairs) Do you collect data usage about services which are delivered on line? Do you consider after some years that some services are no more relevant more?

A: Yes we do. We have web analytics systems connected do major e-services. Data collected are not only taken into account internally but are also available online for public use. It is used as an optimization but also to spread public information.

 

Session Gender Scorecard

The reporting form contains a field in which the session organizers are asked to share an estimate of women present in the room and online as well as the extend the session addresses gender-related topics.

Estimate number of women/men:

 

Man

Woman

Total

Onsite

6

2

8

Online

12

3

15