eGovernment in Estonia – organization, policies, frameworks

Arvo Ott, PhD,

arvo.ott@ega.ee

e-Governance Academy

www.ega.ee

Vinnytsia 07.2012

eEstonia eEstonia • 76 % of population are Internet users• 63 % of the households have a computer at home, 82 % of home computers

connected to Internet. • over 700 Public Internet Access Points in

Estonia, 51 per 100 000 people. • More than 1 100 000 smart-card type ID-

cards issued • 94% (citizens) of tax declarations were e-

declarations (2011), 97% businesses• 94% of banking transaction on-line. 1

place in Internet Banking – (next are Norway, Nederlands, New Zealand…. Finland in the 6th place)

• 24th (all 134, Ukraine 75) place in Network Readiness index 2012.

eEstonia eEstonia • In August 2000, the Government of Estonia changed its

Cabinet meetings to paperless sessions using a web-based document system.

Balanced e-GovernanceCombination of electronic services and participatory services

e- GOVERNMENTTransaction of user-oriented services offered by government that are based on information and communication technologies.

e-DEMOCRACYDigitally conveyed information (transparency) and the political influence (participation) exerted by citizens and business on the opinion-forming processes of public – state and non-state –institutions

Parental benefit – best eGov service in 2004 (interoperability of 5 information systems from 5 goverment institutions)

Parental benefit – best eGov service in 2004 (interoperability of 5 information systems from 5 goverment institutions)

eGovernment example:

Tax declarations on-lineTax declarations on-line

9

21

36

59

7482 86 89 91 93

0102030405060708090

100

% e-declarations

eParticipation example: E-Voting in Estonia (140 846 e-voters in 2011!)

eGovernment Policy / Strategy

Questions:Questions:

• IT policy as the driving force for change?

• Centralized vers. decentralized? Coordination vers. direct management?

• Implementation of strategies• Organization– Coordination tools:

• Regulations

• Budget planning

• Human resource planning

• “soft methods” – training, discussion, awareness building etc.

Driving forces of eGovDriving forces of eGov

• Stable and functioning organizational setup for coordination.

• Leadership and political will.• Fixed info-political principles.• PPP, good telecom infrastructure and high level

of eBanking• Supporting legal and fiscal frameworks.• Interoperable ICT architecture.

Parliament

Government

Ministries

Informatics Council

INFORMATION

POLICY

A

C

T

I

O

N

P

L

A

N

Framework C

O

A

L

I

T

I

O

N

A

G

R

E

E

M

E

N

T

Example: Fixed info-political principles in EstoniaExample: Fixed info-political principles in Estonia

• Citizen (customer) orientation• Leading role for the private sector• Efficient and transparent public sector.

eDemocracy and participation.• Functioning model for protection of personal

data• Measures against digital divide (ID-cards

example…)• Neutrality concerning technological platforms• etc.

GovernmentCounty

governmentsCounty

governmentsIT managers

Localgovernments

Localgovernments

Representative

IT councils of counties

Local governmentassociations

Representative

ICT work groupsof counties

Councilrepresentative

InformaticsCouncil

Department ofState InformationSystems (RISO)

IT manager

InformaticsCentre

IC secretariat

ICT work groupsof ministries

IT councils ofministries

MinistriesMinistries

Management representatives &IT managers of

ministriesSubordinate

agenciesSubordinate

agencies

IT managers

Councilsdirectors

MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS

ICT work groupof regional

development

eGov Center (CIO office)

eGov imple-menting institution

ICT work groupof ministries

MinistriesMinistries

CIO-s

Reform initiatives ICT Budget

•Regulation initiatives•eGov budget planning •monitoring of implementation•Interoperability Framework agreements

State Chancellery / Ministry

project procurement, supervision, implementation

systems maintenance

end user trainingIT Businesses IT Businesses

IT Businesses IT Businesses

• Government Committee “Estonian Informatics Council” - advice to the Government on Information Policy matters

• All ministries (11 ministries) have CIOs. Ministries are relatively independent. Boards and inspectorates are subordinated to the ministries. There are IT councils of ministries who are coordinating the work in their fields of responsibility.

• All County Governments (15) have also CIOs, who manage the work of IT-councils of counties. County Governments are state bodies. There are several municipalities (local governments with independent budgets) in the counties (altogether ca. 220). County IT councils have members from municipalities.

Nature of document Name of Document Nature of regulation

Policy and strategy documents

eGov Strategy, Interoperability Framework

Infopolitical agreement, strong recommendation

Laws and sub-acts Databases acts, Personal Data Protection Act, Digital Signature Act etc.

Compulsory

Framework descriptions Architecture descriptions

Strong recommendation

Interoperability Related Standards

Documents, digital signature, security, message transfer etc.

Advise and recommendation

• Separate article of state budget: expenses for IT- subdivided into HW, SW and project work ordered from outside of government structures. For the last 8 years this budget has formed about 1% of the state budget.

• All ministries, county governments and boards have independent IT budgets which are planned in cooperation of all CIOs.

• For joint actions of several ministries the IT budget is often included in the budget of the ministry that is coordinating the work.

Budgeting

National chip-based Identity Card

Issuing authority:Estonian Citizenship and Migration Board

Service contractor:TRÜB Switzerland

Start of issue:January 1, 2002

Conformance with:ICAO Doc. 9303 part 3 Inside 16 Kb RSA crypto chip are :

2 private keys; authentication certificate;digital signature certificate; personal data file

KITCitizen view

EITEnterpriser view

AITPublic servant view

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http://ww

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Internet - X-road

Databases / information systems Banks

Central server I

Central server II

Centralmonitoring

HelpDesk

X-road certification center

X-road centerTools centrally developed by the State, i.e. the State Portal

CertificationCenter

ID – card

• Ühispank• Hansapank• Krediidipank • Sampo Pank• Nordea Pank

Securityserver

Securityserver

Securityserver

Securityserver

Securityserver

Securityserver

Securityserver

Securityserver

:: … ::

:: E-institution – institution view ::

:: E-county – county view ::

:: Governmental Portal – Your Estonia ::

Institutional view of the state Thematic view of the statewww.riik.ee www.eesti.ee

Securityserver

1000000

5

Popul. ~1,3 mil.

Lessons learned - 1Lessons learned - 1

• Cooperation and coordination is the key, technology is the simplest part. Important role of Centre in coordination of the actions.

• Training of CIO-s (IT managers) and partners from private sector

• Medium push from legal framework• Figuring out what might be the motivation• Procurement procedures and rules can destroy

initial project plans• Step-by-step approach, no need to enter to

“business” of the “back-office”

Lessons learned - 2Lessons learned - 2

• Process from operational technical system to wide implementation takes 2-3 years – “honeymoon period” of the project

• Money, spent once for development of basic components of the architecture will give high profit in the phase of development of single e-services… but it will be clear only after several years… and this might not be the motivation for public institutions

• Driving force is often not from the top management of public institution but somewhere else – find this person …

Thank you for your attention!

Arvo Ott, PhDDirector eGovernance Academyarvo.ott@ega.ee www.ega.ee