CzechPOINT is the Czech national project of eGovernment one-stop-shop for all. The main goal of this project is to enable citizens and businesses to communicate with the government much more effectively then before. A large network of contact points has been established in order to reduce geographic exclusion and provide savings for the users. The concept behind is that each of the contact points provides the same range of services of different government institutions so that no one has to travel to the closest government body which is responsible for the specific issue. The number of services is still increasing, at the moment it is possible to get the copy of the main public registers, e.g. Business Register, Criminal Register, Trade Register or Land Register. In the future, the range of services is expected to increase significantly and the final goal is to allow the users to proceed with any communication with any government body at any place. In the first phase of the project, the CzechPOINT services are provided in traditional way, using existing offices like local government authorities, Post offices, Economic Chamber offices and Czech embassies abroad. As mentioned above, the density of these places ensure at least one CzechPOINT in a short distance for everyone. It also helps to avoid long queues that have complicated life of many people up to now. Last but not least, all CzechPOINTs are adapted for the needs of disabled people. In the next phase it is foreseen to extend the CzechPOINT services also via internet. This combinated approach helps to ensure that everyone will have access to all eGovernment services including elderly and disadvantaged people.

Policy Context

The CzechPOINT project is an important part of the whole Czech eGovernment strategy. According to the „Strategy for development of services for information society“ adopted by the Czech Government in April 2008, establishment of a network of CzechPOINT contact points is an important step for creation of inclusive information society. The strategy envisages that the network should be finished until 2009. The CzechPOINT project is also closely related to several existed and planned national legislation documents. The Act no. 365/2000 Sb. on public administration information systems sets the general framework for provision of eGovernment services. CzechPOINT also helps to fully implement the provisions of the Act no. 106/1999 on free access to information. Two new related acts, the eGovernment Act and the Act on the Public Registers are to be launched soon.

Description of target users and groups

The main target group of the CzechPOINT project are the citizens and businesses (esp. SMEs). CzechPOINT is a national project that helps almost every Czech citizen incl. those living abroad and foreigners living in the Czech Republic. As an example, it allows everyone to get the copy of the Criminal Record Register, which is necessary in order to start a new job, business and many other administrative procedures. Therefore, the estimated number of target users can be around 10.000.000.

Description of the way to implement the initiative

The CzechPOINT project is managed by the Ministry of Interior. The contact points are established at existing Local government, Post offices, Chamber of Commerce and Czech Embassies offices. Other Ministries and public authorities are also partly involved in the development of the CzechPOINT project. Suggestions from private sector and experts have been taken into account as well. The idea of CzechPOINT was developed already in 2005. In 2006, the communication between all stakeholders has started and the whole project strategy was specified. In the early 2007, the implementation phase began and first CzechPOINT contact points started to operate in September 2007. Since then, the network of CzechPOINT contact points is still increasing as well as the range of services provided. The number of CzechPOINT contact points is still increasing. In the beginning of the project, there were only 40 contact points, in January 2008 the number increased already to 1161 and today (September 2008), CzechPOINT consists of 2320 contact points. 60% of the contact points are the local authorities, 24% are the offices of the Czech Post and 13% are the notary offices, the remaining 3% are for the Chambers of Commerce and Czech Embassies abroad.

Technology solution

Main pillars of the technology approach are: - possibility of operating the project via Internet - open modular architecture (possibility of future enlargement) Main technology solutions: - operation system: Linux – free user license - form interface: XML forms – excellent ergonomy and workflow, XML as a communication format, possibility of a direct link to generate Open Document documents - identity space: fully compatible LDAP based directiry service – possibility of synchronization and linking to other identity sources - database: open source at the beginning, then move to a licensed enterprise database, mainly because of a better support Technology choice: Mainly (or only) open standards

Main results, benefits and impacts

The services provided by the CzechPOINT network have been widely used since the beginning of its launch. This success can be well described by the figures of documents issued. Until now (September 2008), 640 846 copies of public registers have been issued and the monthly number of documents is increasing continuously. The most often issued document is the copy of the Criminal Register (350 423 issued copies, 54% of all) that is required for many administration procedures. This is a significant improvement for users because until now there was only one official place for issuing this document and people had to wait long time to receive it. Apart from that service, the copy of the Land Register is very much used as well with 171 023 documents issued so far. The number of copies of Business Register issued is 114 368 and the least number is for the copies of the Trade Register – 5 032. Special attention has been paid to disadvantaged groups of people. Almost all CzechPOINT contact points are accessible for the people on wheelchair. Due to the character of service and assistence CzechPOINT can be used even by people with low or no computer literacy. Multi-channel approach helps to provide a customized service that fits needs of all users. The obvious benefits for the users are the savings in terms of money and time. The amount of these savings can be hardly estimated but its significance is well documented by the number of target users and number of issued documents. Citizens not only don’t need to travel to long distances, but they don’t even need to visit more than one place to arrange all necessary administrative issues. The growing interest in use of the CzechPOINT services confirms the user impact and satisfaction.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

A survey on the use and satisfaction with the CzechPOINT project was carried out by the magazine eGovernment. According to this survey, 92% of citizens are satisfied with the service provided by CzechPOINT. The CzechPOINT project has also been shared at the regular seminars and workshops which are organised by the Ministry of Interioe for other public administration authorities. The CzechPOINT project achieved to obtain two national awards. It was declared as the most interesting project in digitalization of public administration in 2007 in the competition launched by the magazine eGovernment and KPMG. In the same year, CzechPOINT was awarded as the best IT project of 2007 by the Czech Association of Managers of Information Technology Departments.

Lessons learnt

One of the lessons learnt is definitely the confirmation that inclusive eGovernment service can bring strong benefits for the users even when it is provided in the traditional way, i.e. not via internet. In this way, also the people without access to internet or lacking ICT skills are not excluded. The main lesson learnt here is that we should focus on the real needs of citizens rather than just on the best possible use of technology that we have available. CzechPOINT is also an example of a smooth cooperation between government authorities (Central Government, Local Government, and other public administration bodies), and other stakeholders (Czech Post Office, Chamber of Commerce, notary offices). This cooperation is the key element that allows removing the geographic exclusion. Another lesson learnt is that a centralised approach can foster the implementation of the project significantly. The CzechPOINT project is one of the fastest implemented eGovernment projects in the Czech Republic. Scope: National