IPM - Interactive Policy Making: online surveys, questionnaires

Acronym of the case:

IPM

Web address of the case:

http://www.osor.eu/projects/ipm/

Country of the case:

EU Institutions

Posting Date:

29 October 2007

Last Edited Date:

19 August 2011

Author:

Margot Fassian (European Commission - DIGIT)

questionnaire | survey | consultation

Type of initiative

Project or service
Network

Case Abstract

IPM is a multilingual online questionnaire management system that handles all steps involved in a survey life cycle: design, test, translation, launch, collection of replies, and analysis of results. It is available for free as Open Source Software to administrations, businesses and citizens within the European Union.

The objective of the Interactive Policy Making (IPM) initiative is to use modern technologies, particularly the Internet, to allow both Member State administrations and EU institutions to understand the needs of citizens and enterprises better. It is intended to assist policy development by allowing more rapid and targeted responses to emerging issues and problems, improving the assessment of the impact of policies (or the absence of them) and providing greater accountability to citizens. This system has been put in place to facilitate the stakeholders' consultation process by the use of easy-to-use and straightforward online questionnaires, making it easier both for respondents to participate and for policy makers to analyse the results.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

Services for Businesses | Services for Citizens | Open Source | Policy

Sector

Communication (infrastructure)

Start date - End date

January 2001 (Ongoing)

Date operational

November 2001

Target Users

Administrative | Business (self-employed) | Business (industry) | Business (SME) | Citizen

Target Users Description

IPM has been developed to give voice to the opinions of citizens and enterprises about new policy initiatives and to help the EU institutions to enhance the impact assessment of existing legislation.

Since 2005, IPM has been distributed free of charge to several Member State administrations.

Scope

International

Status

Operation

Language(s)

Policy Context and Legal Framework

In April 2001, the European Commission adopted a Communication on Interactive Policy-Making (IPM â€“ C (2001)1014), the aim of which was to improve governance by using the internet to collect and analyse reactions from citizens and enterprises across the European Union.

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

IT infrastructures and products

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Open source software

Funding source

Public funding EU

Project size

Implementation: €1,000,000-5,000,000

Yearly cost:

€49-299,000

Implementation and Management Approach

IPM is financed by the ISA Programme (formerly IDABC). The Directorate-General for Informatics of the European Commission is responsible for coordinating the development and the user community.

The objective of the IPM OSS release is to make it an attractive tool for administrations, businesses or private associations that need to conduct surveys in their fields of activity.

Technology solution

IPM is a customisable open-source, web-based application (online survey management system). Moreover, in the spirit of other OSS projects, IPM invites its users to play an active part in its developer's community.

Impact, innovation and results

Impact

This initiative is used by the European Commission to evaluate existing EU policies and to facilitate open consultations on new initiatives.

IPM can serve various purposes:

public consultations over the web
targeted or restricted stakeholder consultations
panel surveys (see European Business Test Panel at http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ebtp/, a joint project between the European Commission and Member States aimed at evaluating the impact of new legislative proposals on business)
satisfaction surveys (e.g. staff surveys)
event and conference registrations

Track record of sharing

The IPM Open Source Software version is offered free of charge through the EUPL (European Union Public Licence) to public administrations, businesses and citizens of the European Union.

To download the OSS version and consult relative information, please have a look at the IPM page on OSOR (Open Source Observatory and Repository).

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - Need to complement legal measures with ad hoc support team
Lesson 2 - Difficult to reach all possible target audience
Lesson 3 - Dissemination activities to be reinforced

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