Strategic and long term objective of eLodz is streamlining and automation of business processes. Direct objectives: - improve administrational services delivered in traditional way; - deliver eServices; - improve ICT in the administration and in the City; - bring administration closer to the customer and entrepreneur Realization: - rebuilding and modernization of informational system; - integration of data resources; - system of documents based on Metastandard; - the best technologies for Business Process Management (SOA and WS-BPEL); - digital documents, signature and workflow; - PIAPs The System delivers about 250 digital forms which allows to proceed 250 types of cases.
Policy Context
The City of Lódz has signed the European Charter of Rights of Citizens in the Knowledge Society in 2005 as the first polish city. That decision was a natural consequence of our strategy started in early nineties when we have found out that the sense of administration is information processing. If we want to have effective administration we have to support them by effective information and communication technology. We have done it. Results: well served clients, great information resources, reach experience and a lot of awards and diplomas. We will continue that policy. We work on the document Lódz - Informational Society†- a present edition of our strategy. Objectives defined in eCharter are exactly fulfilled in eLodz project. Infomats enables eservices for people who has not Internet at home (first objective, Rights to Access). “City gates†are addressed for citizens who need some help and some education (second objective, Rights to Education and Training). In the MetroPortal there are forms and information about administrational procedures (third objective, Online Information). Some of sites of MetroPortal are edited automatically. System fulfills them with information which comes directly from databases, without any human adaptations. There is also a lot of information about local authority. For example: all local law acts pronounced in Lódz (really all) are available in our portal (fourth objective, Transparent Administration). Our technology enables to organize voting on line. The law still doesn’t allow for that, but we make surveys and informal referenda by net (Online Participation). The project covers most of local authority competences so it addresses many policy issues: Economy and labour; Infrastructure (transportation, construction and housing); Education, science and research; Environment, agriculture and consumer protection; State and society (eParticipation, eDemocracy, civil society); Social affairs (health, pensions, social security, etc.); Taxes and customs; General purpose;
Description of target users and groups
The basic target group is a commune of citizens of Lodz. Not only individual people, but living urban organism with local industry, system of education, system of the health care, systems of communication and all others structures, groups, organizations and other elements of that big urban society with nearly million inhabitants. The second target group are people and institutions which cooperate with our City, make here businesses, study here (we have about 100 000 students), or are related to our City in the other ways, in all the country, and abroad. We can say, that the target of our services consist of all people, all enterprises, institutions and organizations, which use or depend on documents or information gathered and organized in the City of Lodz Office and in some other institutions related to local government.
Description of the way to implement the initiative
The eLodz project was very large and difficult to manage. - The newest technologies, the newest versions of applications, the newest hardware connected in the newest type of architecture. All of us have had to learn a lot. - 26 new applications has been written and 20 – modernized. Some of them are very big and compound. - Lots of new elements for office workers: digital documents, signature and workflow, City Gates. - Problems with new technology (new versions of programs always needs some patches before they can work) and problems with law interpretation. - We involved over 300 people (over 70 computer specialists). To realize such a big and complicated project we decided to divide it into 26 subprojects. These is the only approach which leads to the success. To assure integration of all those different elements, we decided to choose only one contractor which was responsible for all elements and for the total effect. It allowed for avoiding some big problems, but it caused some other. Multi-channel issues: Our informational strategy (document is under construction) points some goals after 2015 year. One of the most important of them is to develop data and information resources. They are going to be a base for automation of business processes. That’s why, establishing online services we cannot choose the simplest and the easiest solutions. Any new subsystem generates new data. Those new resources must be compatible with old data. Here is the first level of integration. The other assumption is that any new system must bring noticeable benefits for customers and – if it is possible – for the staff. That’s why delivery of eServices must be strongly connected with traditional way of proceedings. Digital Workflow Subsystem is a basement for eServices. Part of it is BPEL, which knows where to deliver new applications, and what to do with them before human will make a decision. All the time, the information about the state of the case is available for customer in the portal and ones can get it by email or by phone. (In the future, he will be informed also by SMS). But – at the other hand – the same Workflow Subsystem is a tool to organize traditional procedures. Of course, the customer gets information in the same ways. To make that contact easier, we started establishing PIAPs. Some of them offers only access to the Internet, but some – also human help. They are such as one person offices which offers help for customers who don’t wont or cannot use PC themselves or just need to deliver some paper documents. That is the way to bring administration close to the customer. We can say, the system has different interfaces and customer can choose the way of communication. Of course in the future – Internet will dominate.
Main results, benefits and impacts
Direct impact we can see in the following results: 1. Administration procedures are simpler and easer for customers (less additional documents, less visits in the office, less troubles). We measure the effect by analyzing processes. 2. Automation of business processes in administration. Measurement: by analyzing processes. 3. Better quality of administration processes. Measurement: by monitoring number of wrong decisions. 4. Customers get decisions in shorter time. Measurement: by monitoring time between application and final decision. 5. Growth of the number of citizens and enterprises which use digital signature. Measurement: by monitoring the ratio of the number of signed applications to all applications, separately for citizens and enterprises. 6. Growth of the number of citizens and enterprises which use Internet to contact with administration. Measurement: by monitoring the portal. 7. Better efficiency and productivity of the system. Measurement: monitoring time of reaction. 8. Better reliability of the system. Measurement: by monitoring failures and breakdowns. 9. Better safety of the system. Measurement: by analyzing causes of failures and breakdowns. 10. Lower costs of administration (after full implementation). Measurement: by analyzing costs. We decided to measure effect with simple methodology. We are going to observe effects by minimum 5 ears. An example of impact measurement: we proceed about half a million cases per year. We estimate that for one case citizen looses about 7 hours. We expect, that - during next three years - eLodz will allow to shorten (approximately by half) the time that customer loose. It will allow to spare over 4 million hours. Cost of the project is 4,3 million €. But spared time is only on of many other impacts. To indicate number of users we have to account all citizens of Lodz (nearly 800 thousand people). Our users are also people which use our documents or information. During next 3-5 years it will be probably over one million people. It is very difficult to estimate full impact, but it is evident, that not only citizens, enterprises and other individual clients will see it. Indirect impact will be visible in any spectrum of the city life. Revolutionary changes will be observed when more of business processes will be automated. We could see that effect in banking when they started to use CTI systems to exchange information between banks. It’s hard to believe, bud some years ago money traveled from bank to bank about two weeks. Innovation: One of the indication of Information Society is elimination of mechanical human work. The goal is full automation of business processes. It has been made in banking and – but not so universally - in some industry branches. It is extremely difficult to automate processes because of large amounts of quite different kinds of documents and information. Very big problem is lack of any standards in information systems. System eLodz strongly brings us closer to the possibility of creation fully automatic processes, in which we are able to use any documents. It is possible because of usage of the edge technologies such as WebServices and SOA (Services Oriented Architecture) and XML documents. Metastandard of digital documents makes possible to integrate many quite different information systems. Earlier any exchange of information between them has been impossible without human eyes and hands. Not only the ideas of the system drives our administration far into future. We have top end technology, software and hardware as well. In the frames of the project we have bought applications for business process mapping, which allows an automatic translation of graphic maps of business processes, directly into WS-BPEL (Business Process Execution Language for Web Services). The heart of the system is Oracle Business Process Manager – which integrates about twenty five subsystems into one organism. WebServices and SOA are basic solutions in that system. We have bought the newest versions of databases, servers and hardware. System is very safe. It is divided in two clusters. We have redoubled devices and separated pairs of them into two localizations situated away one to each other, so the system is high resistant for failures and damages. If any device is out of order, it’s pair still works and the customers cannot see any problem.
Return on investment
Return on investment: Not applicable / Not availableTrack record of sharing
One of the most important goals in our strategy is to establish automatic processes connecting different units of administration. To organize such an external workflow. Influence of project eLodz encouraged other administrations in our city to implement the electronic workflow of documents. Four of them will start in July. Some people leave our city and move to other countries. Some of them need documents. For example, when a man is going to marry he needs the birth certificate. Few month ago people have had to travel to Lodz. Now they use Internet and digital form. If he has digital signature – we can post paper document by post, directly to the customer. If not – we sell certificates, addressing them to the nearest consul. There customer signs application (anyway - digital or traditional - signature is necessary) and he gets document. But the goal is to eliminate paper documents. The automatic process will look like this: our citizen wants to marry in the other country. He comes to the local authority and signs essential document (only one). It is inserted to the informational system. That system “asks†eLodz for birth certificate of citizen. eLodz generates and delivers document. All these happens in few seconds. It will be next step. Now we are looking for partners to realize a pilot program. A very good way of sharing good practices is to talk and to write about them. (We talked about eLodz at more then 20 conferences, some of them – abroad. We have had a lot of publications in local and central newspapers). Better way is to show solutions and results. (Everybody can see the portal and try our forms). But the best way is to start direct cooperation. We hope it will be possible next year.
Lessons learnt
Informational Society is impossible without automatical exchange of information and documents between any two different systems. Now such an exchange is impossible, not only between two countries or two cities. It is impossible between any two data bases in the same office. If we want to start bussines processes automation in a large scale, we have to establish international (European?) standards: Standards of registries (for the very beginning: registry of people, registry of enterprises and registry of addresses). For example, it is necessary to be sure that two documents point the same person or not (lesson 1). Digital documents, (lesson 2). Administrational procedures (lesson 3).
Scope: Local (city or municipality)