Policy Context and Legal Framework

Both in the European context, by means of the initiative “i-2010: A European Information Society for growth and employment”, as well as at national level, with the 11/2007 Law of citizens’ 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 León is the full incorporation of our region in the Knowledge Digital Society in order to situate Castilla y León among the most competitive and advanced regions in Europe. As a result, and in line with the European initiative “i-2010: A European Information Society for growth and employment”, the Castilla y León 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 “Castilla y León Digital Community”, 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 “Digital Municipalities of Castilla y Leon”. This Strategic Line aims at providing the impetus for both the Knowledge Digital Society in the region’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 León Regional Government intends to implement modernization measures and new technologies in the region’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.

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 Office’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, 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 “Guide for the adaptation of Local Bodies to Law 11/2007 on citizens´ electronic access to Public Services”, which is now a point of reference at national level, the “Guide for adaptation to the Organic Law on Data Protection”, the “Guide for Electronic Public Contracting”, or the “Catalogue of Interactive Services on terrestrial Digital Television”.

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 “The Information Society in Castilla y León” and the “Digital Public Services: Administrative e-procurement in the local environment”, respectively, together with the “Symposia on the implementing of the Law of Electronic Access in Local Bodies”. 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

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 León 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 members’ 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.    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.    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.    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.