Red de Municipios Digitales (RMD)/Digital Municipalities Network

Acronym of the case:

RMD

Web address of the case:

http://www.jcyl.es/rmd

Country of the case:

Spain

City/region:

Castilla y LeÃ³n

Posting Date:

2 October 2009

Last Edited Date:

02 October 2009

Author:

DG Telecomunicaciones Junta de Castilla y LeÃ³n (Junta de Castilla y LeÃ³n)

egovernment | coordination | municipalities

Type of initiative

Strategic initiative

Case Abstract

The Red de Municipios de Castilla y LeÃ³n (RMD) is an initiative of the Junta de Castilla y LeÃ³n (Regional Government of Castilla y LeÃ³n, Spain), within the framework of the Strategic Line â€œDigital Municipalities of Castilla y LeÃ³nâ€ belonging to the Regional Strategy for the Knowledge Digital Society (ERSDI) 2007-2013, Castilla y LeÃ³n Digital Community. The aim of this initiative is to promote local quality public services focused on members of the public, firms and organisations by the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs).

The RMD is a network of relations among the Junta de Castilla y LeÃ³n and the main regional Town Councils and County Councils in order to develop Electronic Administration and Digital Public Services projects as efficiently as possible.

To carry out this plan, the regional government has signed Collaborative Agreements with the main Town Councils and all the County Councils in the community, aimed at developing Information and Communications Technology projects and activities in the municipal context.

The Organisations involved in the project constitute the RMD, which currently has 26 members, distributed in 17 Town Councils and 9 County Councils.

The RMD provides the impulse needed by Local Administration for incorporation into the modernisation and application process of the ICTs in terms of services; this is achieved by means of support, funding and guidance with which the municipalities are provided in their offer of on-line quality services to citizens of the region.

The principal elements of this strategy are the co-financing of projects, optimizing of resources and taking advantage of the experiences and plans undertaken by the Networkâ€™s municipalities, which may be put to good use by other members of the RMD.

The main objective of the programme is to increase and enhance the Digital Public Services offered to citizens, companies and other agents by the Town Halls and County Councils of Castilla y LeÃ³n; in this way observance is paid to the targets of the 2010 European strategic framework in terms of the inclusion and improvement of public services and quality of life by means of Electronic Administration, as well as the adaptation of Organisations to the Law of 11/2007 making it compulsory, at national level, for citizens to be given electronic access to public services.

The philosophy of collaborative work allows for a transfer of knowledge among local bodies in the Network, which means an exchange of experiences, achievements, good practice and success, permitting maximum development of services and efficiency in the implementation of projects such as these.

Besides evaluation and coordination of the Networkâ€™s Municipalities, there is the important task of making citizens and employees of the municipality aware of and providing them with training with regard to the benefits and uses of on-line services, allowing the region full incorporation in the Information Society.

In short, with the RMD the Castilla y LeÃ³n Regional Government aims to identify and define activities for modernizing and making use of new technologies which will enable it to provide Electronic Administration services to the resident population of the municipalities in this region. Consequently, the creation of the â€œRed de Municipios Digitalesâ€ allows its Town Halls to benefit from common technical solutions, take advantage of the experience resulting from previous projects and make further use of on-going services.

In this way it is possible to create synergies between all the projects, establishing the actions to be undertaken, coordinating related initiatives and schemes in different towns, and complementing projects which may have been carried out by local bodies and which require a greater impulse for being better implemented.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

Sector

Local/Regional Community Development

Start date - End date

September 2006 (Ongoing)

Date operational

September 2006

Target Users

Administrative | Citizen

Target Users Description

The target users of the RMD are, first of all, the local bodies of the Autonomous Community of Castilla y LeÃ³n, encompassing both County Councils and Town Councils with more than 7,000 inhabitants; in this way, electronic administration reaches a greater number of municipalities and consequently more citizens can benefit.

At this moment, all the County Councils (9) of the Autonomous Community form part of the RMD, whilstÂ the current Town Council members of the Network are Aranda de Duero, Arroyo de la Encomienda, Ãvila, BÃ©jar, Benavente, Burgos, El Espinar, Laguna de Duero, LeÃ³n, Miranda de Ebro, Palencia, Ponferrada, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora.

The geographic and demographic situation of Castilla y LeÃ³n, with a total ofÂ 2,248 municipalities, of which 2,213 have fewer than 7,000 inhabitants, requires an egalitarian response to the needs of these municipalities scattered throughout the region, guaranteeing the modernizing of their administration and offering public on-line services to all citizens in the region.

For this reason, the problems involved in carrying out such modernization for the small town councils, due to the lack of economic, technical and human resources, are avoided thanks to the involvement of the County Councils in the RMD, which are responsible for providing Electronic Administration services for the smaller municipalities in their Province.

Consequently, with the involvement of the large and small Town Halls via the County Councils in the RMD, Electronic Administration services are being provided for all citizens represented by all the Town Halls in our region.

Scope

Local (city or municipality)

Status

Operation

Language(s)

Spanish

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Both in the European context, by means of the initiative â€œi-2010: A European Information Society for growth and employmentâ€, as well as at national level, with the 11/2007 Law of citizensâ€™ electronic access to public services, the impulse is given to setting up digital public services between Public Administrations. This Law provides citizens with various rights regarding their Internet relations with not only National or Regional Administrations, but also at local level, which is closest to them.

One of the main objectives of the Regional Government of Castilla y LeÃ³n is the full incorporation of our region in the Knowledge Digital Society in order to situate Castilla y LeÃ³n among the most competitive and advanced regions in Europe. As a result, and in line with the European initiative â€œi-2010: A European Information Society for growth and employmentâ€, the Castilla y LeÃ³n Regional Government is promoting the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) as means to encourage inclusion, quality of life and social and economic development, as well as their generalized use in public services, Small and Medium-sized Companies and homes.

In this context, and in what is known as â€œCastilla y LeÃ³n Digital Communityâ€, there are a series of coordinated measures whose aim is for Citizens, particularly those with the greatest risk of digital exclusion, Companies, mainly the Small and Medium-sized Companies and Micro-Companies which are so abundant in our region, and Public Administrations, to be fully incorporated in the Knowledge Digital Society, boosting economic development, the quality of life of its citizens and the competitiveness of our companies.

With these policies the aim is to situate our Community in its corresponding place within Spain and Europe and to face the future with confidence and security.

The integrating framework for all of these measures is the Regional Strategy for the Knowledge Digital Society (ERSDI) 2007-2013, within which the Red de Municipios Digitales de Castilla y Leon (RMD) represents one of the initiatives, and forms part of the Strategic Line â€œDigital Municipalities of Castilla y Leonâ€. This Strategic Line aims at providing the impetus for both the Knowledge Digital Society in the regionâ€™s municipalities together with Electronic Administration and Inter-operability, and meeting the requirements imposed by European and national legislation.

For these reasons, the RMD stimulates and contributes to the work undertaken by Local Bodies in developing, implementing and setting up services to respond to the stipulations of Law 11/2007: the availability of 24x7 electronic services, universality for all citizens wherever they may be, the opportunity to know at any moment the various procedural steps, and the efficiency which simplifies such procedures, as it is no longer to produce documentation which no longer applies in the case of Administration.

With the RMD, the Castilla y LeÃ³n Regional Government intends to implement modernization measures and new technologies in the regionâ€™s municipalities, meeting the specific objectives for the development of electronic administration under the European i2010 initiative, and promoting the observance of Law 11/2007, which obliges Administrations to make their public services available via telematics before December 31, 2009.

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

Other

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Not applicable/not available

Funding source

Public funding EU | Public funding national | Public funding regional | Public funding local

Project size

Implementation: Larger than €10,000,000

Yearly cost:

€1,000,000-5,000,000

Implementation and Management Approach

The management of this regional project has two sides: on the one hand, that performed by the Regional Government of the project itself, and on the other, that carried out by the municipalities which form part of the RMD, which manage their own modernization schemes.

From the Regional Government, the RMD has the support and guidance of a Technical Office, set up specifically for this project to deal with the general management of the project. One of the most relevant tasks of the Office is to coordinate activities within the RMD framework, making it the hub of exchange of experiences and success stories. Another of the Officeâ€™s aims is to provide the keystone for the necessary measures related to planning and policy defining, as well as to support activities for training and technological know-how, communication, and the spread and transfer of technology amongst the Organisations collaborating in the RMD.

In order to share all the knowledge resulting from the projects,Â the RMD is placing various elements at the disposal of the Local Bodies for these to be put into practice. First of all, basically from an informative perspective, the RMD has a Web Portal (www.jcyl.es/rmd) with updated information on the specific Project and the Information Society in general, as well as a monthly RMD Newsletter, to report on potentially interesting news, events and publications for those responsible for Local Bodies. Another important aspect is the development of a specific Intranet for Town Halls and County Councils, complementing the web portal and showing all the interesting information gathered by the Office as well as documents released by the Bodies themselves concerning the projects they are undertaking. In addition, this Intranet includes information on the different thematic work groups formed with the Town Halls.

As a complement to all these initiatives, several publications have been edited in the RMD to help the Entities to implement eAdministration. Among the most significant are the â€œGuide for the adaptation of Local Bodies to Law 11/2007 on citizensÂ´ electronic access to Public Servicesâ€, which is now a point of reference at national level, the â€œGuide for adaptation to the Organic Law on Data Protectionâ€, the â€œGuide for Electronic Public Contractingâ€, or the â€œCatalogue of Interactive Services on terrestrial Digital Televisionâ€.

Besides, it is thanks to the RMD that there now exists among the Entities belonging to the RMD a spirit of collaboration in activities aimed at transferring technology and disseminating knowledge to other Bodies, thereby creating a sphere of active participation in the diverse work groups (administrative rationalisation, public e-procurement, etc.), as well as the appearance of events whose aim is to make known the specific achievements and the exchange of experiences.

As a result, several events took place last year, amongst which it is appropriate to highlight the first and second RMD Forum, dedicated to â€œThe Information Society in Castilla y LeÃ³nâ€ and the â€œDigital Public Services: Administrative e-procurement in the local environmentâ€, respectively, together with the â€œSymposia on the implementing of the Law of Electronic Access in Local Bodiesâ€. All such actions were complemented with various training sessions which took place in approximately 80 municipalities and in which around 1,000 citizens and over 800 public employees participated.

Regarding management of the activities forming part of each project, this, as we have said, corresponds to the Organisations themselves, which carry out each of the initiatives using a methodology which guarantees that good practices are passed on to the other members of the RMD, whilst at the same time collaborating actively in RMD measures for transferring technology and disseminating knowledge.

Technology solution

Not applicable

Impact, innovation and results

Impact

The RMD is achieving a great impact in the Organisations of the Region by using the ICTs to evolve from a traditional Administration to an Electronic Administration, enhancing its relations with citizens, firms and other administrations.

Through their participation in the project, Local Bodies are implementing Modernisation Plans which allow them not only to optimize their internal operations but also to improve the services they offer the citizen via our communication channels.

The benefits of the project have a direct effect on the Organisations making up the RMD, in that they obtain:

The impetus and co-financing for setting up their Administrative Modernization projects.
The technological help necessary for carrying out ICT-related schemes.
Co-operation with other Bodies in the region to undertake joint collaboration initiatives.
Optimizing resources by benefiting form the experiences of other members of the RMD, resulting in greater efficiency when setting up ICT projects.
Support for disseminating the results among the citizens, as well as a framework for supplying the necessary training both for its public employees as well as for citizens and businesses.

In addition, the Red de Municipios Digitales has made an effort to provide different types of formation:

Technical training for those responsible for the ICTs in the Town Halls, through the organization of various forums and training sessions specialising in the implementation of local Electronic Administration.
Providing 150 training days on Electronic Administration for Town Hall public employees.
Training citizens, with 300 courses given on Electronic Administration.

The Local Bodies are, by organizing the different events which form part of their projects, obtaining their first results, such as:

Increasing the presence on Internet of Town Halls through accessible Web Portals.
Increasing on-line information about public services and electronic administration processing.
Increasing the availability of basic on-line public services.
Connection of Local Bodies in the region to the national inter-administrative network SARA (and, through this, to the European network TESTA), allowing municipalities to inter-operate with other Regional, Central and European Administrations.
A greater number of citizens accessing and consulting information on Internet.
An improvement in the internal functioning of Public Administrations, leading to more efficient and effective management.
Improving attention, information and administrative transparency.
Improving the quality of the services provided by Local Administrations in the network.

Track record of sharing

As this is an eminently strategic project, its philosophy may be completely extrapolated to other Administrations.

The strategy introduced by the Regional Government of Castilla y LeÃ³n to promote administrative modernization in all the bodies of the region by means of the Red de Municipios Digitales, based on a principle of co-funding, expertise and support for the regional Bodies, has established a series of co-ordination systems among the local administrations of the region; in this way, it enables them to make further use of experiences such as sharing knowledge and operational methods.

The working model being developed from the RMD may be replicated and used by other Public Administrations both in administrative modernizing projects and in other types of projects, as long as attention is paid to the principle of co-operation between administrations, exchange of experiences, transfer of knowledge and, above all, extrapolating the good practices of the members of the work group for the benefit of the others.

Even so, the RMD suggests that each Administration interested in exporting the model analyses all the experiences and good practices made available and adds to these its own contribution and perspectives so as to take the appropriate steps. Therefore, it is important to point out that it is not a question of extrapolating projects from one context to another but of identifying the most interesting aspects of other membersâ€™ experiences in order to consider their own.

Among the most characteristic elements of this initiative and by which it is made available, we have the following:

The management model created.
The co-financing framework established.
Co-operation among the nodes on the Network.
Technological surveillance to be up to date with the latest progress in electronic administration.
The contacts made between those responsible for the municipal ICTs to ensure the transfer of technology and the exchange of experiences.
Training and dissemination of information on operations to the various agents involved.

Lessons learnt

1.Â Â Â Why re-invent the wheel? It is not worth using economic, technical, human or organizational resources gratuitously to carry out projects in our Town Halls when these could be optimized if we make good use of the co-operation between Administrations by learning of the successful experiences of others. Neither should we forget that the correct use and dissemination of good practices will be very beneficial to the work of local Bodies.

2.Â Â Â If you are one of the people responsible for implementing eAdministration in your Local Entity, never forget that you should not build a house by starting with the roof, that is, if you wish to offer your citizens quality electronic Public Services, what you should first do is to reorganize your administration from below, improving your back-office to ensure that its internal management meets current needs.

3.Â Â Â The appropriate training of all parties involved (public employees, citizens, businesses) is one of the most important aspects and one which should never be neglected if our aim is to attain a quality and efficient eAdministration in Local Administrations. What is the point of providing wonderful on-line Public Services if nobody knows how to use them? Therefore, it is essential for information to be disseminated on aspects relating both to the implementation of modernization plans and to the results obtained. In this way, the involvement of citizens and businesses in the area may be achieved.Â Â