V4DIS--Visegrad Group for Developing Information Society March 28--30, 2004, Prague & Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Enclosure: Profile information and benchmarking

A proposed draft questionnaire for processing information on national associations of towns and municipalities (1) and cities (2) in terms of information society development. Part of the preparation of the LORIS/eV4+ Declaration. The results are intended for publication within the framework of the ISSS/LORIS 2004, or DIS-V4, conference.

1) Associations of towns and municipalities

(Model Example)

Resources

Information processed and presented within ISSS/LORIS 2003 (subsequently published in the Guidebook).

Draft

  1. Identification and contact
    • Name of the association, abbreviation
    • Website
    • Contact person for ISSS/LORIS/DIS-V4 (name, position, contact)
    • Date of processing
  2. Basic profile of the association and country
    • Population of the country
    • Structure of regional administration division
    • Number of towns and municipalities (+ division into categories by size, for example 500, 50, 5 thousand inhabitants?)
    • Membership base of the association--number / share of towns and municipalities representing the number /share of inhabitants
    • Origination, fundamental goals
    • Bodies and structure (current occupancy, at least chairperson and executive committee)
    • Resources for securing activity (finance--membership fees and other, human resources--setup)
    • Cooperation with other groupings, primarily international (IULA, CEMR etc.) and membership of them
  3. Data on information society development, ICT and e-Government at the local and regional level (LORIS topics)
    • The association's body responsible for ICT and e-Government issues, its goals and activities, structure
    • Governmental body responsible for ICT and e-Government (name, website), cooperation between the association and this body
    • Other national organisations and associations with relation to the LORIS issue (names, abbreviations, web-contacts)
    • Existence of national e-strategy or action plan (name, when it was drawn up, by whom), its relation to LORIS topics
    • Creation and existence of e-strategies of regions, towns and municipalities
    • Number of regions, towns and municipalities having their own websites, the type of information they make public on them (for example, according to the requirements of laws, standards, methodologies)
    • Degree of provision of informational on-line services (according to e-Government categories: information, one-way interaction, two-way interaction, transactions)
    • Degree of rating of multi-platform on-line services (web, call centres, one stop)
    • Existence of conference activities, benchmarking and best practices within a country and with the association's participation
    • Existence of national government support for e-Government development initiatives at the local and regional level (programmes, grants, projects)
    • Experience and involvement in joint projects (international, national, among several subjects), preparation and experience with implementation of projects drawing support from EU funds, mainly structural funds
    • Further experience with solutions pertaining to: Re-engineering, e-Health, e-Learning, e-Security, e-Democracy, CRM etc.
    • Priorities and plans for other activities
    • Experience and lessons learned

2) Cities

(Model Example)

Resources

Draft structure of data on IT in a city after the presentation of statutory towns of the Czech Republic (Solc, MHMP/KISMO, XII/2003), questionnaire of the TeleCities and Deloitte&Touche: e-Citizenship for All Survey (2003).

Draft

  1. Identification and contact
    • Name (in mother tongue, English)
    • Website
    • Contact person (name, position, contact)
    • Date of processing
  2. Basic profile of the city
    • Specific position in public administration (capital of the state/region, statutory town etc.)
    • Population
    • Organisation of the city's (district's ) administration
    • Elected bodies (number, structure), existence of a statement of policy
    • Existence of basic documents for the city's development and administration (strategic plan, statement of policy etc.--from when)--priorities
    • Membership of national and international organisations (with wider focus, specific to IT, see Section C6)
    • Number of municipal employees, of whom administrative staff
    • Budget (and/or other statistical GDP indicators, unemployment)
  3. Data on information society development (LORIS topics)
    1. Organisation of IT
      • Municipal management and executive bodies as regards IT and e-Government issues
      • Central IT workplace and its position in the office (department), number of staff, structure, main activities; IT workplace in other departments (for example, transport, land-use planning, environment, education etc.)
      • Who is responsible for e-Government development, general website management etc. (IT+PR+?)
      • Other municipal authorities and organisations with significant influence on IT (IT trade unions on city district authorities, "technical" organisation set up by the city)
      • IT budget (% of the city's budget), structure (infrastructure + HW, SW + supports, data acquisition and purchase, telecommunications fees etc.)
      • Major services purchased, possibly IT outsourcing
      • Operating rules or other "rules” for use of IT by employees, system of employee training, knowledge testing (ECDL)
    2. Strategy, security
      • Information strategy/policy (existence of an independent document, whether it is in process, from when, who drew it up, process of adoption, making public, monitoring, focus, priorities etc.), linkage to e-Europe 2005 and national policies
      • Security policy (yes/no/in process, when, by whom, adoption, content characteristics), organisation and management of IT security
      • Audits, certificates
    3. Infrastructure
      • Existence of a metropolitan network (who is connected, technical characteristics, organisation of operation, assurance of operation), parameters of internet connection, connection to national infrastructure networks, plans
      • Equipment of offices--LAN, connection to a metropolitan network or internet, share of employees equipped with PC + connected to network, with access to e-mail, internet services etc.)
    4. SW agendas and data
      • Solution of to main agendas: internal (economics, property management, personnel administration, document administration, specialist self-governing agendas), external (web, state administration agendas), special systems (e.g., GIS), level of integration and use of web technologies
      • Creation, administration and use of basic registers and dials, level of integration, technologies
      • Major linkages to surrounding public administration information systems: of the state, region (upwards), of the city district (downwards)
      • Use of SW open source (including plan)
    5. e-Government, web, CRM and specific e-Services
      • Existence of an e-Government development policy (part of information strategy, independent), political declaration on public administration modernisation with the use of ICT
      • Organisation of e-Government (management structure, project, who implements it, who is responsible for actual management, promotion and education)
      • Communication channels used for promotion of services--web, call centres, information and contact centres (one-stop), public access places (info-kiosks), mobile facilities, digital TV etc.), integration of services
      • Address of the city's website, interesting information services, multilingual versions, participation in competitions and awards
      • Characteristics of the degree of existing e-Government services according to four categories (information, one-way interaction, two-way interaction, transactions)
      • Target groups addressed and differentiated
      • Accessibility of e-services for citizens (proportion of citizens with internet access, possessing mobile technologies, equipping of schools, public access places etc.), support for accessibility for various population groups (the disabled, the elderly etc.)
      • Organisation of website management (technologies + editing), training of managers and users
      • Assurance of feedback (use of e-services in total and individually)
      • Activities for civic society development and participation in the city's administration (e-Democracy)
      • Promotion of e-Learning, for employees' education, for schools
      • Analyses of labour organisation and management processes and changes, modification of structures relating to e-Government development (Re-engineering)
      • Introduction of electronic signatures, chip cards and other specific e-Security elements
    6. Cooperation, financing etc.
      • Permanent IT cooperation with other networks and professional organisation or other cities (at the national and international level)
      • Experience and involvement in joint projects (international, national, among several subjects), preparation and experience with implementation of projects drawing support from EU funds, mainly structural funds
      • Priorities and plans for other activities
      • Experience and lessons learned
    7. Specific projects
      • Any other interesting projects and activities that can serve as models for others (best practices)--brief annotation