C:Documents and SettingsANY1073.XP32826EscritorioAomCli · PRESS KIT pg. 2003/11/06 The minor works...

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2003/11/06 The minor works will be done without municipal permission but they will maintain a tax

La Vanguardia 2

2003/12/12 Barcelona will make agile the proceedings of minor works Avui 3

2004/11/22 The number of minor works inspectors will increase by 40% El Periódico 4

2004/12/03 The declaration for minor works online - This online service facilitates the obtaining of the permission to carry out minor works

Barcelona City Council Website (www.bcn.cat)

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2005/01/06 New ordinance for minor works in Barcelona El Periódico 6

2005/01/07 A new ordinance facilitates the management of minor building work in Barcelona

El Punt 7

2005/01/07 Barcelona puts into effect the minor work ordinance La Vanguardia 8

2005/01/28 Declaration for minor works - Processing may be performed via the Internet, by calling 010 or in person


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February 2005 Easier works - New municipal ordinance for minor works La Municipal 10

2005/05/30 The City Council is simplifying and accelerating the processing of minor works with the new OROM computer application - The new minor works Ordinance adjusts the processing effort required by citizens to the complexity of the work


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2005/10/25 A year of construction activity in Barcelona(october 2004 – september 2005)

Press book, Barcelona City Council

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2006/05/18 Expansión and T-Systems give their award to the innovation in the Administration

Expansión 19

2006/05/19 Barcelona City Council wins awards for the website and the use of new information technology - The awards were given for the IRIS and OROM projects


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2006/06/22 T-Systems awards the best projects of the public administration INFOGEDAS 23

September 2006 The Barcelona Model of eGovernment: Adoption and institutionalisation, JR Rodríguez

UOC Papers 25

November-December 2006

The Barcelona Model of eGovernment, JR Rodríguez Penteo ITC Analyst 63

2007/04/19 Awards City of Knowledge delivered in the closing ceremony of the Internet Global Congress - the OROM project of the City council has been finalist in the category Projects of Universities and institutions


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The presence of the OROM in the mass media, both external and internal of the city council, has been constant in the time since the reframing of the project began.

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Aquest servei en línia facilita l'obtenció del permís per dur a terme obres menors03/12/2004 13:23 h.

El document, que sorgeix de la comunicació entre la persona que vol fer una obra menor a casa seva i l'Ajuntament de Barcelona, es pot tramitar en línia a través d'aquest web municipal, dins de la secció Tràmits i Gestions.

L'usuari d'aquest nou servei haurà d'omplir les dades que es demanen al formulari, escollir el tipus d'obra que vol realitzar, i imprimir el document o bé sol·licitarrebre'l per correu. Alhora, el tràmit es pot fer també per telèfon marcant el 010, o bé de forma presencial aqualsevol oficina d'atenció al ciutadà.

L'assabentat d'obres menors és un document que serveix per comunicar a l'Ajuntament la realització de qualsevol obra catalogada com a menor, com per exemple reformes interiors d'habitatge que no afectin envans, estructures ni façana de l'edifici, però que poden provocar molèsties al veïnat. La seva tramitacióés gratuïta i s'ha de demanar abans d'iniciar les reformes.

Més informació:

» Assabentat d'obres menors [+]

© Ajuntament de Barcelona

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El tràmit es pot fer per Internet, trucant al 010 i de manera presencial28/01/2005 13:08 h.

L'assabentat d'obres menors és un document que serveix per comunicar a l'Ajuntament la realització de qualsevol obra catalogada com a menor, com per exemple reformes interiors d'habitatge que no afectin els envans, les estructures ni la façana de l'edifici, però que poden provocar molèsties al veïnat. El tràmit de l'assabentat és gratuït, s'ha de demanar abans d'iniciar les reformes, i des de fa un mes es pot gestionar per Internet per facilitar-ne l'obtenció.

En aquest cas, la tramitació es fa amb el nou servei dela secció de Tràmits i Gestions d'aquest web, on la persona interessadai ha d'omplir les dades que es demanen al formulari, escollir el tipus d'obra que vol realitzar i imprimir el document o bé sol·licitar rebre'l per correu. Així mateix, el tràmit es pot fer també per telèfon marcant el 010, o bé de manera presencial a qualsevol oficina d'atenció al ciutadà.

Enllaços relacionats:

» Assabentats d'Obres [+]


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Obres més fàcilsNova ordenança municipal sobre obres menors

El dia 1 de gener va entrar en vigorl’Ordenança Reguladora de les ObresMenors (OROM) en substitució delcapítol de la vigent Ordenança

Metropolitana d’Edificació que fa referència alrègim d’execució de les obres menors a la ciutatde Barcelona. La nova norma introdueix uncanvi en la tramitació d’aquest tipus d’obres: elsciutadans ja no demanen permís, sinó que comu-niquen a l’Ajuntament la seva voluntat de fer-les. Es tracta, per tant, d’una ordenança claramentinstrumental que regula aspectes documentals iprocedimentals, però que en cap cas entra enqüestions de tipus qualitatiu, estètic o quantita-tiu, i que té com a principals objectius la simpli-ficació i estandardització dels tràmits adminis-

tratius per part dels particulars, així com lamillora en l’accés a la informació a través de lesnoves tecnologies.La posada en marxa d’aquest règim significa perl’Ajuntament un canvi en els seus processos detramitació, a partir de quatre punts bàsics:• L’Ordenança pretén potenciar al màxim la idea

que la comunicació no és una autorització, sinóuna fórmula adreçada a simplificar al màximels procediments per a executar les obres ireconeix, per tant, una clara responsabilitat enel ciutadà que comunica les obres.

• Es regulen uns mecanismes, pel procedimentespecial d’urgència, per a casos en què es cons-tati la necessitat d’evitar danys a les persones oa les coses.

• Es fixa un termini específic per a finalitzar lesobres, tant en els supòsits de llicència com decomunicació, per tal d’assegurar la seva ade-quació a la normativa en cada moment vigent itambé per a intentar evitar l’execució d’obresd’abast superior al declarat.

• En l’Ordenança s’incorpora la documentacióespecífica necessària per a cadascun dels tipusd’actuació d’obra menor. En aquest sentit, s’haintentat simplificar al màxim la documentacióno tècnica requerida.

L’obtenció de la documentació necessària i latramitació de les llicències pot fer-se de manerapresencial -a les Oficines d’Atenció al Ciutadà-,telefònica -al 010-, o telemàtica -a la webwww.bcn.es-.

Jordi López

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Amb la nova Ordenança d'obres menors s'adequa l'esforç del ciutadà en el tràmit a la complexitat de l'obra30/05/2005 14:38 h.

OROM és la sigla de l’Ordenança reguladora d’obres menors i és el nom que s’ha donat a l’aplicatiu informàtic que facilita el tràmit d’aquest tipus d’obres a la ciutat de Barcelona. Aquesta ordenança vol millorar la intervenció urbanística de les obres menors que es fan al terme municipal de Barcelona. D’una banda, vol agilitar els procediments i facilitar l’exercici de l’activitatamb el principi de menor intervenció. D’altra banda, pretén simplificar l’aportació de documents i promoure els mitjans tècnics, electrònics, informàtics i telemàtics en les relacions amb la ciutadania. Aquests principis es concreten a desplaçar gran part de les tasques associades a les obres menors des de Serveis Tècnics a les OAC (oficines d’atenció al ciutadà).

Des que es va posar en marxa el nou aplicatiu OROM (dades 9 de maig) s’han fet 33.810 consultes, 19.704 de les quals per internet; 10.721, presencials, i 3.185, per telèfon. Pel que fa als tràmits, se n’han fet 12.301, 7.890 dels quals corresponen al d’assabentat (3.134 perinternet, 4.306 presencials i 450 per telèfon), 2.837 corresponen al règim de comunicació, 1.052 corresponen a llicències d’obra menor i 522 corresponena llicència d’obra major.

Tal com recull l’ordenança, el canvi es concreta a dividir les obres en tres grups (vegeu Ordenança amb annexos) de complexitat tècnica diferent. A efectes pràctics, es tradueix que la tramitació i el que es demana al ciutadà és diferent per a cada grup d'obres. Aquests tres grups són: règim de llicència d’obres menors, règim de comunicació prèvia, i règim d’assabentat. Les obres en règim de llicència són les més complexes, i tramitar-les requereix la revisió del projecte per part dels Serveis Tècnics Municipals. La resolució s’atorga o es denega en el termini màxim d’unmes, i s'aplica el silenci administratiu en cas que no s'hagi notificat abans del termini.

Les obres en règim de comunicació prèvia requereixen que l’interessat, abans de començar les obres, les comuniqui a l’Ajuntament amb la documentació que s’indica a l’annex corresponent. Les obres es poden començar a partir del dia següent en què s’ha lliurat la comunicació prèvia, s'ha comprovat la documentació aportada i s'ha efectuat la liquidació provisional de l’impost sobre construccions, instal·lacions i obres.

Els assabentats es poden tramitar completament per internet

El règim d’assabentat afecta les obres més senzilles, que es poden iniciar l'endemà d'haver-les posat en coneixement de l’Ajuntament. Per fer aquestes obres nocal presentar documentació Els assabentats es poden tramitar completament per internet L’aplicatiu OROM, per mitjà de preguntes, ajuda l’interessat a conèixer quin tipus d’obra demana i com l'ha de tramitar. A més,de manera automàtica, es validen les condicions urbanístiques associades a l’adreça. Les obres del règim

Més informació:

» Tramitar una llicència, comunicat oassabentat d'obres [+] » Consultar el tràmit de llicència, comunicat i assabentat d'obres [+]

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d’assabentat es poden tramitar per internet omplint el formulari i imprimint-lo com a comprovant de la sol·licitud. En les obres sotmeses a llicència i a règim decomunicació es pot generar part de la documentació necessària per a la tramitació des d’internet.

En resum, gràcies a la nova Ordenança d’obres menors i a l’aplicatiu informàtic que s’ha desenvolupat, s’aconsegueix reduir l’esforç del ciutadà quan tramita aquestes obres. És a dir, només les més complexes es tramiten com a llicència; en el cas de les obres de dificultat mitjana, només cal comunicar-les adjuntant documentació, i en el cas de les més senzilles, només cal informar-ne l’Ajuntament (assabentats).


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Un any d’activitat en

construcció a Barcelona

(octubre 2004 – setembre 2005)

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Més habitatges per a més famílies

19% d’habitatge protegit

Més places d’aparcament en el subsòl

Més rehabilitació d’edificis i habitatges

Barcelona, 25 d’octubre de 2005

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I2

Activitat en construcció a Barcelona

2003 - 2005

En un any:

S’ha concedit llicències d’obres majorsper construir o rehabilitar més de 1,8milions de m2 de sostre (habitatge,terciari, equipaments, aparcament ialtres usos)

El 34% del sostre concedit és perhabitatge, més de 7.500 vivendes i el25% és per aparcaments, més de 12.500places

El 19% de les llicències d’habitatges sónper construir pisos de protecció: 1.064vivendes

Les noves normatives municipalspermeten construir més habitatge senseaugmentar l’edificabilitat total i donaraixí millors respostes a més famílies

El parc d’habitatges de Barcelona s’harenovat en un 4’5%

Més rapidesa i facilitat en la concessióde llicències d’activitat i d’obres menors

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I3


2003 - 2005

1.- En un any, l’Ajuntamentconcedeix llicències d’obresmajors per construir o rehabilitarmés de 1,8 milions m2 de sostre

El nombre de llicències d’obres majors concedides per l’Ajuntament en l’últim any, entre

octubre de 2004 i setembre de 2005, demostren l’alta activitat de construcció a la ciutat de

Barcelona. El sostre concedit representa un 18% més que en el mateix període de l’any

anterior.

En aquest període, l’Ajuntament ha concedit llicències per construir 1.807.646 m2 desostre. D’aquests, 1.292.725 m2 corresponen a nova construcció i la resta, 514.921 m2 a

reforma / rehabilitació integral.

2.- El 34% del sostre concedit enobres majors correspon ahabitatge. L’aparcamentrepresenta el 25% del total

Del total de sostre concedit, el 34%, amb 606.356 m2, correspon a habitatge, i ha

crescut un 16% en relació al període entre octubre de 2003 i setembre de 2004.

L’aparcament, amb 451.911 m2 (25%) del total de sostre concedit, és la segona activitat

constructiva i registra un 17% d’augment respecte del període anterior.

A continuació es situa el sostre per terciari, 379.605 m2 (21%) i el sostre per equipaments,

253.070 m2 (14%).

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2003 - 2005

3.- Les polítiques municipalsaugmenten les possibilitatsd’accés a l’habitatge

Més habitatge nou i rehabilitat. Mésoferta d’habitatge

Entre l’octubre de 2004 i el setembre de 2005, l’Ajuntament ha conceditllicències que permeten la construcció o la reforma integral de 606.356 m2 desostre per a habitatge, és a dir, 7.506 pisos. Aquesta xifra representa un 24%més de pisos dels que es van concedir durant tot l’any 2004 per aquestconcepte.

Nova construcció i rehabilitació d’habitatge

Oct 2004 – set 2005 Oct 2003 – set 2004Habitatge de nova planta 5.661 - 75% + 19%Habitatge reformat 1.845 - 25% + 58%Habitatges totals 7.506 - 100% + 26%

L’Ajuntament de Barcelona ja fa anys que està duent a terme polítiquesadreçades a promoure un major a l’habitatge a les famílies. La introducció denoves tipologies d’habitatge com els apartaments de lloguer assequible per ajoves i per a gent gran, o la reducció de 100 m2 a 80 m2 de la superfícieconstruïda de promig, en habitatges nous o en rehabilitació, permetenaconseguir més pisos construits sense augmentar l’edificabilitat prevista en lesnormes urbanístiques i el Pla General Metropolità.

Així, amb les normatives anteriors, amb els 606.356 m2 de sostre destinats ahabiatge que s’ha atorgat en llicències d’obres majors, entre octubre de 2004 isetembre de 2005, s’haurien pogut construir unes 6.000 vivendes. Amb lesnormatives actuals, el mateix sostre permet la construcció de més de 7.500pisos. El mateix sostre permet la construcció de me´s habitatges per a mésfamílies.

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2003 - 2005

A Barcelona es continua construint unpercentatge alt d’habitatge de protecció

Del nombre d’habitatges potencials de nova planta, 5.661 pisos, 1.064 (19%)són habitatges assequibles (de protecció i concertats).

L’alt percentatge de llicències d’habitatge de protecció a Barcelona és possibledegut a les reserves de sòl fetes en la normativa municipal des de 1996, irecentment incorporades a leslleis estatals i autonòmiques. Ellideratge de l’Ajuntament deBarcelona en polítiques depromoció i construcciód’habitatge de protecció, estàen la promoció de sòl i, enmolts casos, en la construcciódirecta d’aquests habitatges.

4.- Més llicències d’Obres Menorstramitades amb més rapidesa

El passat mes de gener va entrar en vigor la nova Ordenança d’Obres Menors (OROM)

que simplifica considerablement els tràmits d’obtenció de llicències. El nou sistema

afavoreix la tramitació ràpida. Així, millora l’activitat i es redueix el temps de gestions per

obtenir els permisos.

En el període estudiat (octubre 2004 – setembre 2005) l’Ajuntament de Barcelona ha

concedit 33.764 autoritzacions per a Obres Menors i per a assabentats. D’aquestes, el

83% s’han fet efectives pel règim de comunicació.

Llicències d’obres menorsOct 2004 – Set 2005 Oct 2003 – Set 2004

Obres menors 10.966 +11 %Assabentats 22.798 + 30 %Total 33.764 +25 %

Descripció llicències Obres MenorsFaçanes 3.174 29%Interior habitatges 2.488 23%Interior de locals 1.980 18%Elements estructurals i comuns dels edificis 2.407 22%Altres 917 8%TOTAL 10.966 100%

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2003 - 2005

5.- El parc d’habitatges deBarcelona s’ha renovat en un 4’5%

Si comptem el nombre de llicències totals (obres majors, menors i assabentats)concedides per a habitatge, podem afirmar que, entre octubre de 2004 i setembre de 2005,s’ha autoritzat a actuar sobre 35.000 vivendes de les 750.000 que existeixen a la ciutatde Barcelona. Això suposa un 4’5% de renovació del parc d’habitatges de la ciutat deBarcelona.

6.- Més de 12.500 places noves

d’aparcament en el subsòl

En el darrer any, l’Ajuntament de Barcelona ha concedit llicències d’obres majors perconstruir 458.573 m2 de sostre, en el subsòl, destinat a aparcaments privats de vehicles ialtres usos vinculats. Això vol dir 12.588 places, de les quals, 6.952 (55%) estan lligadesa edificis d’habitatge. La resta, 5.636, són places d’aparcament en edificis d’oficines,comerços, equipaments o altres usos.

Aquestes places se sumen a les que impulsa directament l’Ajuntament a través del

Programa d’Aparcaments Municipals, que preveu la construcció de 34 nous pàrquings en

el període 2005-2007, amb més de 8.300 places previstes. D’aquests pàrquings, 3 es

troben en construcció i 25 estan ja adjudicats o han iniciat els tràmits per ser adjudicats.

7.- Més rapidesa en la concessió

de llicències d’activitat

Les autoritzacions d’activitat concedides entre octubre de 2004 i setembre de 2005 hanestat 4.396 de les quals, el 84% (3.721) s’han fet efectives a través del règim decomunicació.

Les llicències en règim de comunicació es concedeixen en el mateix moment d’entrega de

la corresponent documentació a les oficines municipals i, com a màxim, al mes d’haver-se

efectuat la comunicació.

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Els guardons els ha rebut pel projecte IRIS i pel projecte OROM 18/05/2006 09:00 h.

Els Premis a les Millors Pràctiques d'Administració Electrònica són els de més prestigi d'Espanya en aquesta matèria i tenen per objecte el reconeixement públic als millors projectes de les administracions públiques en el bon ús de les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació (TIC) i estimular-los.

Projecte IRIS

L'Ajuntament de Barcelona ha guanyat premis en dues de les cinc categories de què es componen els premis. L'any passat ja va guanyar en la categoria de "Sistemesque milloren la vida dels ciutadans" amb el projecte de la Carpeta del ciutadà, categoria en què aquest any repeteix premi amb el projecte IRIS. Aquest és un sistema multicanal que gestiona incidències, queixes i suggeriments de les ciutadanes i els ciutadans amb la finalitat de corresponsabilitzar-los amb la qualitat de vida a la ciutat i les prestacions dels serveis urbans.

Quan la persona interessada truca al telèfon indicat rep una informació immediata del nivell de servei previst. La petició es transmet automàticament en forma d'ordre de servei al contractista final. La persona té una referència per poder fer el seguiment de la petició. Finalment, rep una notificació en què se li indica que la incidència comunicada s'ha solucionat. El sistema permet no només millorar l'atenció a la ciutadania, sinó gestionar millor les operacions, millorar la feina dels contractistes i tenir un formidable sensor de l'estat de laciutat.

Projecte OROM

L'altre premi rebut ha estat en la categoria de "Desenvolupament dels sistemes interns de l'Administració", en què ha estat guardonat el projecte OROM de tramitació de llicències d'obres. El projecte OROM (Ordenança reguladora d'obres menors) es caracteritza perquè s'ha efectuat una reenginyeria del tràmit en què la intervenció municipal ha passat de ser principalment preventiva i basada en processos d'autorització prèvia a la concessió de la llicència a ser, sobretot, correctiva i que es basa en la inspecció posterior a la concessió de la llicència.

Aquest replantejament global ha inclòs canvis en la normativa, una nova Ordenança reguladora d'obres menors, modificació de processos interns i nous sistemes d'informació, i s'ha completat amb la prestaciódel servei per internet, per telèfon i a les oficines d'atenció als ciutadans. En conclusió, s'ha aconseguit una reducció dràstica del temps de tramitació de llicències que beneficia ciutadans i professionals.

L'avaluació dels premis té en compte el grau d'innovació, l'ús de les noves tecnologies de la informació, les millores en disseny de processos i els beneficis que se'n deriven, el grau d'implantació i el grau d'acceptació dels usuaris. Aquesta avaluació l'ha realitzat professionals del Centre Sector públic-Sector privat de l'IESE i de T-Systems, que han elevat els projectes al jurat, format per personalitats rellevants del món empresarial.

Més informació:

» T-Systems [+] » Expansión [+] » Pla estratègic de sistemes [+]

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Premi ComputerWorld 2006

També el setmanari ComputerWorld ha triat l'Ajuntament de Barcelona com a mereixedor del Premi ComputerWorld 2006 a la Modernització TIC, per l'esforç realitzat per modernitzar les estructures i els processos de gestióper amb les tecnologies de la informació com a eix de la innovació. El lliurament del premi té lloc dins el I Fòrum de Modernització TIC 2006.ComputerWorld és una de les principals revistes d'informàtica que s'editen a Espanya, i té una tirada de deu mil exemplars cada setmana.


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Como clausura del evento, Pilar Conesa, Directora General de Sector Público de T-Systems, agradeció la participación de los asistentes y les emplazó a seguirtrabajando para la modernización de la Administración y el intercambio de experiencias en este ámbito en futuras ediciones de este evento. El Sr. PedroÁlvarez, Tercer Teniente de Alcalde y Concejal de Hacienda del Ayuntamiento de Palma, despidió el acto y clausuró unas jornadas que han supuesto unimpulso importante de la propuesta de valor de T-Systems para el Sector Público y un mensaje de confianza a los clientes actuales de TAO-gedas.

Durante las jornadas, los asistentes pudieron participar en un conjunto de actividades lúdicas, entre las que destacan un paseo en velero por la Bahía dePalma, un curso de maridajes de vinos y una visita guiada al casco antiguo de Palma.

Eventos

T-Systems premia los mejores proyectos dela Administración Pública

l pasado día 18 de mayo

T-Systems, en colaboración con

el Diario Expansión y el Grupo

Recoletos, entregó los Premios a las

Mejores Prácticas de Administración

Electrónica, unos galardones que reco-

nocen los mejores proyectos de las

administraciones públicas en el buen

uso de las Tecnologías de la Información

y la Comunicación (TIC) y cuya entrega

contó con la presencia de D. Jordi

Sevilla, Ministro de Administraciones

Públicas y de Ginés Alarcón, CEO de

T-Systems para España y Portugal.

Por tercer año consecutivo, los pre-

mios a las Mejores Prácticas de

Administración Electrónica han ido

dirigidos a la participación de cual-

quier organismo con proyectos, inde-

pendientemente de su dimensión, del

volumen de recursos utilizados, el tiem-

po o el coste de su implementación.

La relación de premiados y sus res-

pectivos proyectos es la siguiente:

En la Categoría 1: Sistemas que mejo-

ran la vida a los ciudadanos, el pre-

mio ha recaído sobre el Proyecto IRIS

del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, por

su innovación. IRIS (Incidencias,

Reclamaciones y Sugerencias) es un

programa multicanal para gestionar

las peticiones de servicio, avisos,

incidencias y reclamaciones de los

ciudadanos. Forma parte del

Programa del Civismo, una de las ini-

ciativas políticas centrales del actual

mandato, destinado a aumentar la

conciencia y corresponsabilidad del

ciudadano hacia la calidad de vida en

la ciudad, el respeto a las normas de

convivencia y el funcionamiento de

los servicios públicos.

En la Categoría 2: Sistemas que mejo-

ran la competitividad empresarial del

territorio, el premio a ido a parar al

proyecto Primera Licitación

Electrónica del Gobierno Vasco, otor-

gado por la transparencia que aporta

este proyecto se enmarca dentro del

E

Jordi Sevilla, Ministro de Administraciones Públicas

T-Systems, encolaboración conel Diario Expan-sión y el GrupoRecoletos, entrególos Premios a lasMejores Prácticasde AdministraciónElectrónica, unosgalardones quereconocen los me-jores proyectos delas Administracio-nes Públicas en elbuen uso de las Tec-nologías de la In-formación y la Comu-nicación (TIC)

“

“

Partners Colaboradores

PARTNERS QUE HAN COLABORADO EN EL 9º CLUB TAO-gedas

Eventos

4342

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23

4544

EntrevistaEventos Eventos

Sistema de eContratación que el

Gobierno Vasco ha puesto en marcha

para facilitar los procesos de contrata-

ción administrativa de esta

Comunidad. El sistema de Licitación

Electrónica, diseñado para automatizar

los procesos de contratación mediante

concurso, permite el envío y la recep-

ción, mediante firma electrónica reco-

nocida, de las ofertas de los concursan-

tes, así como la adjudicación del expe-

diente a través de procedimientos elec-

trónicos articulados en torno a esta

Aplicación de Licitación Electrónica. El

sistema garantiza la confidencialidad

de las ofertas e incluye la posibilidad de

asistencia “virtual” a las mesas de

contratación por los interesados.

La Categoría 3: Desarrollo de los siste-

mas internos de la Administración, ha

premiado en esta ocasión al

Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, por su

proyecto Ordenanza Reguladora para

Obras Menores, un proyecto de gran

incidencia para la vida del ciudadano.

Este proyecto es una de las iniciativas

más emblemáticas del Ayuntamiento

de Barcelona en el sector de

Urbanismo, ya que ha conseguido la

simplificación de la tramitación de

licencias urbanísticas de obras y ha

conseguido un considerable ahorro de

tiempo para ciudadanos y profesiona-

les. Este proyecto ha conseguido una

reducción dràstica del tiempo de trami-

tación de licencias, que ha pasado de

entre dos y seis meses a apenas unos

minutos en la mayoría de los casos.

En la Categoría 4: Uso de la tecnolo-

gía en el sector sanitario – eSanidad,

el premio ha recaído en el programa

de desarrollo TIC de SESCAM, por

actuar como revulsivo para el resto de

las Autonomías, y por la ambición del

proyecto. Con el fin de ofrecer un ser-

vicio más eficiente, ágil y de calidad al

ciudadano, SESCAM ha desarrollado

cuatro iniciativas enmarcadas en este

programa. La primera de ellas,

Esculapio/Turriano, que ha consisti-

do en la informatización de las con-

sultas y la consolidación de las

Historias Clínicas Digitales de los

Ciudadanos. Otra iniciativa es el

Visado de Recetas, en la que se inclu-

ye la informatización de farmacias

para disminuir los traslados del ciuda-

dano para obtener los visados de rece-

tas. Otra iniciativa integrada en este

proyecto, Ykonos, es un sistema que

permite el acceso a la imagen médica

digital desde cualquier punto que dis-

ponga de una conexión de datos y un

navegador web. Por último, la iniciati-

Ginés Alarcón, Consejero Delegado T-Systems Iberia; Juan Soto, expresidente de HP y Presidente del jurado, Jordi Sevilla, Ministro de AdministracionesPúblicas y Aldo Olcese, Presidente del Consejo Asesor de T-Systems Iberia junto con los premiados a las mejores prácticas de Administración Electrónica

Organismo CandidaturaAyuntamiento de Barcelona IRISAyuntamiento de Barcelona Barcelona Ciudad Móvil Ayuntamiento de Barcelona Firma electrónica en los procesos de Gestión Económic

de los Organismos Autónomos del Ayuntamiento de BarcelonaAyuntamiento de Barcelona OROM (Ordenanza Reguladora para Obras Menores)Ayuntamiento de Palma de Mallorca Ampliando los servicios con Unidades Móviles de Servicio (UMS)Ayuntamiento de Pinto Pinto NET: Intranet Administrativa del Ayuntamiento de PintoAyuntamiento de Rivas Vaciamadrid Interconexión Tecnológica de las Empresas del Polígono Santa AnaBanco de España Interoperabilidad de información financiera con el estándar XBRLCambra de Comerç de Barcelona Cuadernos eATACentro de Cálculo de la Diputación Foral de Álava SIG Corporativo de la Diputación Foral de ÁlavaConsejería de Economía y Hacienda. Comunidad Autónoma de Murcia Mejora al Portal Tributario de la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de MurciaConsejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa PROYECTO R@SL@Consell General de Cambres de Catalunya Projecte eBID - Banc Integrat de DadesConsell General de Cambres de Catalunya Projecte MarketpassDiputación Provincial de Huesca Proyecto Diputación Digital de HuescaDirecció General d'Atenció Ciutadana s@rcat E.P.E. Red.es Programa de Telecentros (www.telecentros.es)EJIE S.A. Elearning en la administración del Gobierno VascoEmpresa cántabra para el desarrollo de las nuevas tecnología en la administración “Análisis, diseño, desarrollo e implantación del aplicativo RACIC, Registro de Animales de Compañía

Identificados en Cantabria”Empresa cántabra para el desarrollo de las nuevas tecnología en la administración Empresa cántabra para el desarrollo de las Nuevas Tecnologías en la administraciónGeneralitat de Catalunya El Nou GencatGobierno de La Rioja Oposit@Gobierno de La Rioja Aula Virtual de la Escuela Riojana de Administración Pública. Gobierno del Principado de Asturias Gobierno del Principado de Asturias- Reestructuración tecnológica

para una Administración más cercana al ciudadanoGobierno del Principado de Asturias Iniciativa para la Formación y el Empleo en el Entorno Tecnológico del Principado de AsturiasGobierno Vasco Proyecto Konekta Zaitez Ciudadan@ - KZguneaGobierno Vasco Primera Licitación Electrónica en España; incluida en el Plan de Implantación

de la Contratación Electrónica en el Gobierno VascoInstituto Español de Comercio Exterior (ICEX) Implantacion de soluciones SAP en el Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (ICEX)Instituto Gallego de Promoción Económica (IGAPE) Sistema de asistencia en la presentación de solicitudes de ayudas de mejora competitivaMinisterio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación IMPLANTACION DE LA TELEFONIA IP EN EL MINISTERIO DE AGRICULTURA, PESCA Y ALIMENTACION

(ESTE PROYECTO ANULA EL OTRO DE IGUAL NOMBRE PRESENTADO CON ANTERIORIDAD)Ministerio de Fomento Sistema para la obtención de autorizaciones de transporte y tarjetas para tacógrafo digital.Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio PAIT virtual – Oficina virtual de creación de empresas en InternetReal Casa de la Moneda - Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre Servicio de verificación de firma electrónicaReal Casa de la Moneda - Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre Certificación de atributosSE Correos y Telégrafos, S.A. Correos OnlineSE Correos y Telégrafos, S.A. Burofax a través de InternetSE Correos y Telégrafos, S.A. Correos OnlineSector sanitario de Barbastro INTRANET DEL SECTOR SANITARIO DE BARBASTROSESCAM El programa de desarrollo TIC del SESCAMSESCAM Proyecto integral para la Gestión del Conocimiento en el SESCAMUniversidad Carlos III Impulso de la tramitación ON-LINE para una gestión eficazUniversidad Carlos III Desarrollo del eLearnig en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ( UC3M )Universitat de Girona Diseñador de asignaturas

va Mambrino, que permite la integra-

ción en una sola historia de todos los

datos existentes de cada paciente.

Por último, en la Categoría 5:

Integración de la tecnología en la for-

mación – e-Learning, ha resultado

premiado el Proyecto de Desarrollo

de eLearning de la Universidad

Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), por el

apoyo a las nuevas generaciones.

Este proyecto global de formación

digital, desarrollado para mejorar la

calidad de su oferta docente, com-

prende dos partes. Por un lado ADA-

Madrid (Aula a Distancia y Abierta de

la Comunidad de Madrid), que es un

proyecto liderado por la UC3M y en el

que participan las seis universidades

públicas de la Comunidad de

Madrid. Con el soporte de las TIC se

promueve el intercambio de asigna-

turas, con reconocimiento de crédi-

tos entre las instituciones participan-

tes. AULA-Global es el otro proyecto

integrado, una herramienta de

soporte a la enseñanza presencial y

semipresencial. Ofrece a profesores y

alumnos un espacio de trabajo vir-

tual, paralelo al espacio físico del

aula, disponible en cualquier

momento y desde cualquier punto

con conexión a Internet.

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THE 'BARCELONA MODEL' OF EGOVERNMENT:

ADOPTION AND INSTITUTIONALISATION

José Ramón RodríguezBarcelona City Council

Article published in "UOC Papers" (issue 3, 2006)

http://www.uoc.edu/uocpapers/3/eng

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THE 'BARCELONA MODEL' OF E-GOVERNMENT:


José Ramón Rodríguez1

Abstract

In June 2004, the professors Manuel Castells and Esteve Ollé published, within the framework of

the Project Internet in Catalunya (PIC) from the Open University of Catalonia and the Regional

government, a study about the implementation of the Electronic Government in the city of

Barcelona. From the conclusions of the study, the emergence of the city's own model of

administration can be deduced, focused on the institutional and conscious use the awareness of

Internet "to increase the efficiency of the Local Administration (….), the improvement of the public

services and the reformulation of the processes of governance of the city".

The study by these authors is framed within the sociological approach of the theories of Manuel

Castells about the 'information era' and the 'network society', uses different instruments of analysis

of the organisations and the provision of services on the website and is based on statistical

information of the City Council, a large number of interviews with municipal staff, and the

observations of the authors themselves.

This article proposes a similar methodological approach regarding the analysis of the supply, and

a different approach for the analysis of the demand, based on Rogers' theory of the diffusion of

innovations, and in particular the diffusion of ICT within organisations, as presented by various

authors.

In the article we examine the evolution of the phenomenon for the period between the second

semester of 2003 and the first semester of 2006. From the point of view of methods and sources,

we have mainly used statistical information and documents of the City Council of Barcelona, most

of them being public, and the author's own observation and experiences, as an executive of the

City Council during this period, which allows us to have a broad longitudinal base complementary

to and consistent with that of Castells and Ollé, and an approach to a certain extent close to that of

"action research" in the field of information systems.

We conclude that in the period studied, Barcelona has entered into a new cycle of development of

its model of e-Government, characterised by two main features: on the one hand the social

adoption by a majority, both of the information services as well as those of transaction, which are

already producing the substitution of the traditional channels of communication by Internet; on the

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other hand, the integration and institutionalisation of the e-Government within the Municipal

Administration, by means of organisational, technical and legal changes, and of a new offering of

services that correspond to the most advanced level of developments in e-government. In the

process, there appears to be a move towards some of the components suggested by Castells and

Ollé, although there are still weaknesses and contradictions which had already been mentioned in

the previous study.

1 José Ramón Rodríguez is Deputy Managing Director of the City Council of Barcelona, and Managing

Director of the Municipal Institute of Information Technology. He is a collaborating professor in

Information Technology, Telecommunication and Multimedia Studies from the Open University of

Catalonia.

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THE 'BARCELONA MODEL' OF E-GOVERNMENT:


José Ramón Rodríguez1

I. APPROACH TO THE CASE

The intensive use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and in particular the

Internet, for carrying out the activities of the Public Administration with the aim of improving or

transforming the relation with the citizens, the relation between administrations, the provision of

public services, internal efficiency and political participation2, is known as e-Government (e-Gov),

or Electronic Administration3.

In this sense, e-Gov should be able to offer an integral service to the citizens and businesses by

means of a unique points of contact despite the organisation of the public administrative

departments, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, accessible independent of disabilities or

technologies4. This service should include the transparent publication of the information available

to the Administration, the easy and secure carrying out of procedures, paperwork, requests,

consultations and of all the faculties that the legal regulations give to the citizens5. E-Gov should

foster the participation in the decision-making processes that affect the public, be they executive or

political in nature6. Finally, the e-Government should allow the different Administrations to share

data, information and processes, so as to offer the citizens better services7.

This initial characterisation of e-Gov as a service leads in a natural way to the conception, more

and more extended, of e-Gov as a subjective right, as a core part of the new "citizens' rights" in the

information and communication society, along with other social rights related to access, availability

and training in the use of new technologies to bridge the so-called 'digital gap' or the rights in

terms of data protection and personal communication8.

Stress has also recently been given to the importance that innovation through e-Government has

on the economic development of the nations, the increase in productivity and employment9.

Finally, some authors argue that the use of Internet by the public sector can play a leading role in

the articulation and development of social movements and networks10 and new ways of

'governance'11.

The introduction of e-Gov in different contexts has been analysed and evaluated in accordance to

different 'models' that tend to describe states or phases of 'maturity' in terms of the quantity and

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quality of the services offered online, from just 'being present' on the website to advanced services

of 'transformation' and 'participation'. This type of analysis is an adaptation to the world of

Administration of the models of analysis of e-business from some years ago12. Each phase tends

to be characterised by means of a combination of elements, that, once turned into indicators, allow

the carrying out of comparative exercises or benchmarking13. In this line of research the rankings

of public websites, which have become popular in recent years, should be included14.

In terms of the revision, it can be concluded that the theory and research on electronic Government

has been mainly based on the analysis of the provision of information and services online. The

process of spreading, and the adoption of e-Gov among users (citizens, businesses and public

employees), has however been less studied15 and only recently has it been accepted that the

demand and real use of the services of e-Gov is a key indicator of the success of e-government

and a condition for computing the benefits of effectiveness and efficiency16. Some people have

spoken about a 'new wave' of e-Gov where the integration of e-Gov in the ordinary Administration

is beginning to be produced, and benefits are being achieved in terms of social impact, substitution

of channels and transformation of the organisation, or put in another way, where the e-Gov won't

be more a channel or separate service, but the natural way for the Administrations to perform and

to relate to the citizens17.

The 'Barcelona Model'

In June 2004, the professors Manuel Castells and Esteve Ollé published, within the framework of

the Project Internet in Catalunya (PIC) of the Open University of Catalonia and the Regional

government, a study about the implementation of the Electronic Government in the city of

Barcelona. From the conclusions of the study, the emergence of the city's own model of

administration can be deduced, focused on the institutional and conscious use of Internet "to

increase the efficiency of the Local Administration (….), the improvement of the public services and

the reformulation of the processes of governance of the city”18.

It is suggested that this 'model' should appear alongside and parallel to the urban planning and

socio-economic transformation model of the city, belonging to the 80s and 90s of the last century

(for this reason, already in the title of the research, it talks about a 'Barcelona Model 2', that of the

e-Government, continuing on from, and parallel to, the first 'Barcelona Model' of industrial and

urban transformation). This study, exploratory in nature, mentioned the appearance of the

phenomenon and left for subsequent studies the confirmation (or not) of its evolution and maturity

and a more precise characterisation.

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The study by these authors is framed within the sociological approach of the theories of Manuel

Castells about the 'information era' and the 'network society’19, but made up mostly of the

methodological contributions that we have revised, such as the analysis of the maturity stages

based on indicators and even a small part of the analysis of the social adoption of the online

services provided by the City Council. The research is based on statistical information of the

Council, a large number of interviews with municipal staff, and the observations of the authors

themselves.

Castells and Ollé define the new 'Barcelona Model' in four interrelated components or dimensions:

1) A new model of public management (called 'administrative reconstruction' by the authors)

characterised by the business and territorial decentralisation, by the outsourcing of services and

by the separation of the political authority and the executive authority, that extensively adopts

management models and intensively uses information technologies.

2) The use of ICT, and in particular Internet, to increase the transparency and communication with

the citizens, by means of new information services and online procedures (what the authors

call 'informational accountability').

3) The enlargement of the daily life of the citizens by means of the social use of ICT, in a dynamic

relation mode between physical space and virtual space (that the authors call the 'construction

of the cybercity').

4) The influence and leadership of Barcelona in the networks of European and Latin American

cities that promote and exchange advanced experiences in the use of ICT.

Castells and Ollé identify synergies and contradictions within each dimension and among them,

that derive from their opinion about the strengths, interests and substratum of thought (the 'logics')

of the different actors the 'political logic', the 'technocrat', the 'hacker ethic' of website

innovation, the bureaucratic 'logics', etc. The evolution of the phenomenon over time should

resolve or opt for these contradictions.

The aim of this article is not to revise or strictly update the work of Castells and Ollé. Neither is it

possible, due to the length of the article, to deal with all the components presented in the previous

work. Our methodological approach does not follow in a lineal way the proposal of the authors. Our

hypothesis here is that the City Council of Barcelona has in recent years entered in a new stage or

cycle of development in its e-Gov that in part confirms the trends and contradictions outlined before

and also in part introduces new elements20.

The characteristic features of this new cycle would be as follows:

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1) We would find ourselves at the start of the phase of integration and institutionalisation of the e-

Government within the Municipal Administration and in the relation with other Administrations,

by means of organisational, technical and legal changes and a new provision of online services

that have the characteristics of the most advanced states of the development of e-Gov. We

include this point in the following section of the article ('Institutionalisation of the e-Government')

2) We would find ourselves at an advanced phase of social adoption of the services of e-Gov

among the population and the substitution of the traditional channels by Internet. This cycle

would affect all the public services, but has different speeds for different segments of public

(citizens in general, businesses and professionals) and services (information vs. e-services or

procedures, and different sub-groups within these groups). This point refers to the third section

of the article ('Adoption of the municipal website').

Therefore, with regard to the dimensions presented by Castells and Ollé, we study here the

provision of online services (the 'informational accountability'21) and the social adoption (the

metaphor of the 'construction of the cybercity'22), mentioning in this way, as they do also, the

organisational and technical elements that support these dimensions, that is to say, by wich

structural elements of organisation, systems and people the Electronic Government in the

municipal organisation is being constructed.

From the point of view of methodology, at the start of each section we present more thoroughly the

approach that has been followed, as well as the methods and sources, and the relation with the

research of Castells and Ollé. We say here that for the description of the institutional model and

the new provision of services, we follow in an eclectic way the characterisation of the 'levels of

maturity' of e-Gov as they are usually stated23 and the idea of the 'fourth wave' presented by Booz,

Allen and Hamilton24. For the production of the indicators and rankings we refer to the latest

university studies of the municipal websites25.

For the analysis of the social adoption, we follow the hypothesis that the behaviour of the citizens

with regard to the adoption of the municipal internet services is similar to the process of adoption of

innovations, described by Rogers26 and that has been extensively applied in the marketing of

products and services27 and also in the use of ICT in general28. According to this theory, those who

adopt an innovation are distributed in time in a grouping that goes from 'early innovators' to

'laggards' and takes the form of a normal curve. In terms of the process of individual adoption, it

follows a pattern that goes from lack of knowledge to repeated purchasing and has a relation with

the characteristics of the product and the attitudes of the consumer29. With suitable information, we

can know the moment of adoption of an innovation, make forecasts, and establish suitable product

and promotion strategies when carrying out the process.

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With regard to the substitution of channels, our hypothesis30 is that the majority of information and

administrative services produced by the municipal government can be given out through the

internet, with the advantage of convenience and cost both for the users and for the Municipal

Administration. That should produce, in societies (and segments of users) with a high penetration

and experience of internet a process of substitution of the delivery channel, not very different from

that produced in an electronic bank or in the travel industry, if we act taking into account the

variables of marketing (access and distribution, incentives, user trust, investment in different

channels, etc.).

In terms of methods and sources, we have mainly used them statistical information and documents

from the City Council of Barcelona, most of which being public. In recent years, the municipal

organisation has made a great effort in terms of normalisation and measurement of the use of the

public services by different channels, particularly Internet. Likewise, in 2005 and 2006, it has been

carrying out quite extensive research, both about the Internet market, and more specifically about

the demand for administrative services online. This allowed us to have a broad longitudinal base,

complementary and consistent with that of the authors of the study of 2004, although in general

much bigger and more precise31. The projects and experiences of the period are documented in a

website housed in the municipal site32. Finally we cannot avoid mentioning the observation and

experience of the author, executive of the City Council during this period, in an approach to a

certain extent close to that of the 'action research', with its opportunities and biases33.

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II. INSTITUTIONALISATION OF THE E-GOVERNMENT

According to that which we presented in the previous section, the usual analysis of the e-Gov has

been carried out in terms of supply, and mainly by means of the evaluation of the quantity and

complexity of the services offered online. There exists a certain agreement about the least complex

phases, where the Administrations put basic information on the website (Phase 1, or 'Presence'),

more complex information, such as access to general databases and dynamic applications (Phase

2, or 'Interaction'), and online transactions or procedures, with access to protected individual

information (Phase 3, or 'Transaction'). On the other hand there doesn't exist unanimous

agreement about the characterisation of the more advanced phases, which seem to respond to the

generic 'what goes beyond' and that includes considerations of technology (interactive games,

access from mobiles or TV, audio, video, delivery and follow up of multi-channel or intermodal

services, digital authentication, personalisation, proactiveness, etc.), of contents (management of

personal accounts, sharing of information between departments of an Administration or between

various Administrations, services of electronic participation, etc.), or of organisation (massive

reengineering of processes and complete transformation of the Public Administration)34.

In our opinion, what is characteristic of this phase and what makes its characterisation so difficult,

is that the e-Gov is diluted into the ordinary running of the Administrations that have managed to

integrate the new technologies and the website channel into their work processes and relations

with third parties, and therefore the reference to an 'e-Government' stops being useful35.

Our hypothesis in this section is that the City Council of Barcelona has in recent years entered a

new phase that we could call the 'institutionalisation' of e-Gov characterised by the offering of

advanced services and by the integration of the internet in the heart of the Municipal Administration

and with other Administrations by means of organisational, technological and legal changes. In the

development of this new phase, there has been a major municipal investment in ICT, and in

particular in the Internet, and new structures have emerged for the management of online services.

Finally, without renouncing innovation and a certain 'hacker ethic', the municipal management has

fostered criteria of effectiveness and efficiency and more managerial approaches.

The foundations of the 'model'

According to the thesis of Castells and Ollé36, there would exist in the foundations of the 'model' a

rooted common information management structure for the different channels (the "integrated multi-

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channel system of information for citizens", or MISS), an expansive strategy of offering as much

information and services as possible through all the different channels, in particular Internet, and a

strong individual and collective substratum of innovation, supported from the Mayor's office (the

'municipal super-hacker', as stated by the authors), and led mainly from the department of

Barcelona Information.

The centralised management structure of the main databases of information for the citizens, the

integration, as far as it is possible, of the corporate and departmental back offices, the structure of

the model of applications in separate levels, the excellence of the geographical information and its

integration with the alpha-numerical information, and the quality of the 'base information' (which

relates to the people and the territory) have been characteristics of the municipal information

systems and technology for some time, well embedded within the municipal organisation.

The co-existence between different structures (the information and service providers of the

departments, the central structure of co-ordination of the website, the people in charge of the

Municipal Institute for Information Technology, the managers of the common information

databases, etc.) and an effort of 'relational management', with not much hierarchy, which the

authors also refer to, have probable been the key in terms of the functioning of the internet in the

City Council since about 1999 (after the initial period of what we could call 'autonomy').

In the phase studied by the authors, a period of expansion of information and services put on the

Internet was effectively undergone, with a political and administrative logic of transparency and

responsibility (the 'informational accountability' of Castells and Ollé) that led Barcelona to climb up

to the top positions on the ladder in the development of online Administration, not only in Spain, but

also at a European level, where Barcelona stands still.

In 2001, there was a strategic reflection about the future of Internet in the City Council from which

arose, among others, the project of content management, that determined the model of

government and production of the municipal website from that moment. Since then, the website of

Barcelona has responded to a functioning that we could call a horizontal or 'federal' portal, made

up currently of 139 websites of different municipal programs and services, that allows the re-

utilization of contents and validates the process of production by means of a workflow manager37.

The central structure, apart from establishing the common regulations for the whole system,

directly manages the corporate services of online information and procedures.

Finally, Castells and Ollé identify that the hacker ethic’38 of innovation can be found in the

individual and collective substratum of this transformation, especially within the group of Barcelona

Information. The characteristics of this 'ethic' would be creativity, active internal and external

relational attitude, the self-organisation of work time, the vocation for public service, to establish a

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certain competitiveness with other Administrations and a feeling of belonging to a 'community' of

practitioners. This ethic would co-exist, according to the authors in a dialectic, contradictory and

complex relation with other more 'protestant' municipal ethics (the democratic model of municipal

public management, based on efficiency, cost saving and introduction of management and

business systems, or the public servant hierarchical rules-based model).

Institutional commitment and management model

The current phase that started at the end of 2003 with the new political period, would be

characterised in our opinion by the effective expression and fulfilment of an institutional

commitment in support of the e-Gov, that is reflected by the range of a combination of policies and

plans, a major boost to the investment in ICT and the putting into practice of new structures

(organisational, technological and legal) for the management of the online services, that would

facilitate the integration of the online Administration within the ordinary Administration of the City

Council. The main challenges for the period are the Strategic Plan for Information Systems and the

Regulatory Ordinance (bylaw) for the e-Government. We will revise next the main components and

the most significant challenges in this new cycle.

In this new stage the political reference of the municipal website is the fourth Deputy Mayor, José

Cuervo, President of the Treasury Commission, and President of the Executive Committee, that is

to say, the political person responsible for the municipal management machinery. An e-

Government Committee has been formed, that he also presides, made up of councillors and

directors from the different municipal areas, and the Editorial Commission for the website has been

revitalised. The position of Deputy Managing Director, under the Municipal Managing Director, has

been created, to oversight the new Department for Citizen Attention, the Department of

Organisation of Systems, the Municipal Institute of Information Technology, and also a new

'Technical' Department for Internet; although the management of the contents, also a new

directorate in the organisation chart, remain under the Department for Corporate Communication.

An ordinary Internet committee, led by the Deputy Manager, 'co-ordinates' the functioning of the

website by means of fortnightly meetings, trying to preserve the spirit of the old Barcelona

Informació for years responsible for the municipal Internet, and now divided into different

structures.

Although the disappearance of Barcelona Informació opened up a reasonable series of unknowns

at the start of the mandate, we believe that it can be said three years afterwards that the new

structures of governance and management have better integrated the internet into the rest of the

municipal structure, placing it in a more central position and closer to the decision-making and

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boosting its managing power although it is possible that in the process, visibility has been lost,

as well as a direct support from the Mayor's office and a more 'political' vision of the development

of Internet. The breaking up of the area has inevitably led to inefficiencies and co-ordination costs,

that are compensated by a positive culture of staff relations and shared objectives.

The new team prepared a Strategic Plan of Information Systems and later a Plan of e-Government,

that is included in the Municipal Action Plan and the Municipal Investments Plan. An investment of

50 million Euro for Information Technology was approved, representing an increase of 75%

compared with the previous mandate. 20% of this investment is dedicated to the e-Government

and Citizen Attention, defined as one of the four strategic lines of the mandate, with the main aim

of increasing the supply and demand of online transaction (electronic procedures) in all the

municipal fields. In this sense, two Government Measures were presented to the City Council

Plenary. New online services have been produced and put in place (described in the following

section) and the whole technological infrastructure for the management of contents, development

and production, have been renewed. The evolution of the technological architecture of the

Municipal Institute of Information Technology towards a SOA model (Service Oriented

Architecture), with new components of integration and web services, facilitates the development of

the e-Government applications. Internet has become a 'VIP customer' of the Municipal Institute of

Information Technology, for which it has signed a demanding agreement of service levels. The

whole program gives the new Internet area a technical, economic and managerial solidity it didn't

have before, and allows it to assume the enormous expansion of services and frequency that it has

undergone in this period39.

As with the rest of the projects of the Strategic Plan of Systems, those of the Internet are subject to

mechanisms of qualification and evaluation of the return on investment, project planning,

management and control, that put special emphasis on quality, time and cost, favouring the

contracting out of certain services. The transition towards this type of dialogue hasn't always been

easy, given than the development in Internet, not only in the Municipal field, is subject to most

complex and iterative process of innovation and there are few external references. This has led to

some delays in the setting in motion and delivery of some projects. The international literature of

project management and omplamentation of information systems has recognised the peculiarities

in the development of Internet and the need to adapt the structures, plans and work processes40.

Neither the 'ethic hacker' nor the lineal construction engineering are the likely solution.

In this period a challenge has been produced which we believe is central to the construction of e-

Government in the City Council of Barcelona and possibly in Europe41, The approval of a

Regulatory Ordinance for e-Government, a sort of municipal 'law' that establishes the rights of the

citizens in this field and the principles of action of the Municipal Administration, and regulates the

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legal procedures for publishing administrative information and for carrying out online procedures,

transposing for the first time the state regulation of common administrative procedure into the field

of Internet42. What is relevant here is the evolution from a concept of informal and voluntary

accountability (transparency and responsibility) in which the Administration places information and

services online, to a concept of legal accountability made up of a series of subjective rights that the

citizens can demand and therefore a series of guarantees that the Administration needs to

safeguard. It refers, combined with other actions mentioned above, to the 'socialising' and

'legalisation' of the e-Government within the Municipal Administration, still accepting the risk that

this may slow down or bureaucratise to a certain extent the 'expansive logic that defines online

services’43 in the previous phase.

The last feature that, in our opinion, characterises this phase is a cultural evolution from the

subjective aim of being a 'service to the citizens' that the previous phases characterised, to a more

business concept of 'giving value to the customers'. Both have been little explicit, and can only be

understood from an analytical observation or based on experience. In the current phase, the aim of

gaining audience or social use of the municipal Internet, especially for e-services, is a very

important driver. As a consequence, the figures and ways of use and trends are continually being

analysed. Surveys and qualitative studies are carried out so as to understand better the needs of

the customers and to involve them in the development of the new services. Promotional strategies

and tactics are tried out which are different from the institutional communication of the public

administrations themselves, and often far from the mass media. New projects are analysed from

the point of view of the market and the return of the investment, and the initiatives that only

contribute novelties or experimentation are assessed thoroughly before being approved. The

transition isn't obvious, as one could imagine, or without difficulties, mistakes and 'areas of

uncertainty' (using the words of Crozier, as quoted by Castells and Ollé), which probably should be

preserved.

A summary of the characteristic elements of this phase are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Institutionalisation of the e-Government. Characteristic features.

Integration in the area of Presidency and Treasury and the Managing Director Office.

e-Government Commission.

Strategic Plan of Information Systems.

e-Government Ordinance.

Strengthening of the management structures.

Model of project management.

Culture of 'value for the customer'.

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New services

At the time of the study of Castells and Ollé, the areas rightly highlighted were the applications

based on the municipal systems of geographical information (the Barcelona Guide, the

cartographic and urban planning information, or the services of mobility and traffic), the services

aimed at specific target groups (such as the Canal Cultura, the website of Libraries, or the services

for businesses such as Infopyme, for SMEs), the first virtual communities (such as Barcelona

Activa, the Local Development Agency, or the Open Education Project) as well as some pioneering

initiatives in terms of participation, although it was already pointed out that these last areas of

development seemed minor and still needed to take off. The field of electronic procedures was also

highlighted, although in this period few procedures could be fully completed by Internet. Aspects

such as accessibility or compatibility with open source software were not evaluated, which in

recent years have seemed to become highlighted topics in the evaluation of public websites.

In recent years the publication of online services has continued, perhaps with greater intensity and

speed, the Internet has become generalised as a vehicle of communication for all the municipal

services, some of the information services used most by the public have been enlarged and

improved, the e-Government has been widely developed in terms of services that allow the

completion of procedures in the website, the management of personal accounts and electronic

authentication, agreements for the exchange of information with other Administrations have been

signed and carried out, and more sophisticated technical settings have been entered into such as

applications that allow changing the channel, mobile applications, interactive games and audio and

video applications (although this is yet to include interactive television). Participation has been

developed somewhat more (not however including blogs, virtual communities or the more

advanced forms of e-democracy), and advances have been made with the compatibility of open

source software and to a lesser extent accessibility. We will examine critically the most highlighted

features and challenges of this cycle as follows.

From summer 2003 to summer 2006, more than 40 new websites have been created ('completed',

apart from the large number of isolated or opportunist websites) that give all the services and

municipal programmes a basic level of presence, information and interaction, and the new contents

manager has been introduced, to which 35 existing websites have migrated. Some very advanced

municipal programs, that had developed their own solutions (such as the website of the Institute of

Culture, or that of Libraries) are in the process of moving over to this solution. The conglomerate

bcn.es (now also bcn.cat) currently groups together 139 completed websites, that contain 80,000

static pages and 120 applications.

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The City Guide, the authentic star application of the municipal website, has been totally renovated

with a new application in flash and with new sophisticated services, such as a virtual flight over the

city or tourist itineraries. The services of the agenda and the directories have been improved,

although to a lesser extent and it has suffered from the loss of quality of the information about

companies and businesses that was obtained through the former National Economic Activities Tax.

In terms of public administrative information, it is not as yet compete and its inclusion was not

obligatory until the approval of the e-Government Ordinance which is still at the early stages of

introduction.

In this period 24 procedures (Figure 2) have been incorporated or improved. Currently 21 can be

carried out completely by Internet. These figures mean that 90% of the potential volume of

procedures of the City Council can be carried out by Internet, and 65% can be totally completed.

The aim for the end of the mandate is that between 80% and 85% of the potential volume of

procedures will be able to be completed by Internet.

Figure 2. Procedures by Internet44

2003 2006

P1 633 791

P2 27 28

P3 22 20

P4 11 21

Total P2-P4 60 69

Procedures eliminated 4

New procedures 13

Improved procedures 11

Source: City Council of Barcelona.

As well as the procedures available on the portal, the City Council has agreements with different

professional groups so as to be able to carry out procedures by means of secure extranets. With

regard to the commitments of the European Union, with a view to using the e-Government for the

benefit of the competitiveness of the companies45, it should be noted the lack of development in

Barcelona of the solutions for electronic contracting and purchasing, beyond that the service

(advanced at the time) of the 'Supplier's Portal' that allows the visualisation of the state of their

invoicing and payment process.

Services which allow the personalisation of part of the contents ('My agenda') have been

developed, as well as access to specific information of individuals and businesses (the 'Citizen

folder', and the 'Businesses and entities' folder'), along the lines of the management of accounts

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that some private websites and electronic banks use, although the possibility still doesn't exist of

configuring a portal according to the wishes of the user (like a 'My portal'). It is possible to access

these services through different levels of secure access, of a user-password that the Citizen

Attention offices of the City Council give out, and of the most extended digital certificates. The

possibility to fully complete procedures and the personalised services require a very high level of

integration with the back offices and legacy applications. For example, the 'Citizen folder' gains

access to 24 million registers and a large number of applications and databases. However, these

services still tend to be associated with an information provider (generally the Municipal Institute of

Treasury, or Tax Office, and the sector of Urban Planning), and it is difficult to include information

and procedures from other municipal services.

With regard to indicators of 'maturity' that appear in literature, it should be pointed out that in

Barcelona it is still not possible to complete complex administrative procedures that require a

public formal seal of entry, supplying online documentation or electronic notification.46.

The aspects of integration of information and processes, within the organisation and with other

administrations and companies, are probably one of the most advanced signs of development of e-

Government, although they require an effort in terms of functional and technical standardisation, a

certain level of reengineering and the construction of technological platforms for inter-operability. In

this period the City Council has reached agreements and operates extensively with the Tax

Administration of the State, the Department of land and property registry, the Official Bulletin and

other services of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Government of Catalonia), in a bilateral way.

The evolution during this same period of the Consortium of Open Administration of Catalonia as a

platform for multi-lateral inter-operability between Catalan Administrations and the State, has also

facilitated the development and introduction of agreements related to the census and electoral

register, that allows the local Administrations to exchange information of residence and

cohabitation. However, the level of assimilation of these uses by the State Administration and

some of the services of the Generalitat de Catalunya are still insufficient.

With regard to participation, during this period, advanced services like electronic voting have not

been developed47, nor has the announced portal of associations48. However two initiatives should

be highlighted, of highly popular acceptance. The first was to submit to public scrutiny and

consultation the Municipal Action Plan for the mandate, a process in which a large number of

entities and citizens took part, and in which it was notable to the fact almost half of the

contributions were received by Internet.

The second is the new application for the management of incidents, complaints, claims,

suggestions and consultations (IRIS), housed in the website under the heading 'The City Council

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listens to you'49. The application annually processes around 300,000 contacts for more than 1,600

different thematic concepts. The most accepted channel is the new free-of-charge telephone 900

226 226, ‘the telephone of civic behaviour', with only 11% of the contacts being made by Internet.

The application allows the immediate communication with the back office responsible for solving

the problem reported by the citizen, and the follow up of the procedure by means of different

channels. The inter-modality (the possibility of changing from one channel to another) is an

authentic provision of a multi-channel attention system, one that Barcelona at the moment only has

available for this application and for the new procedure for reporting minor building works (OROM).

In this period, the City Council has entered into the world of mobile applications, making available

to the public the most requested services of the website, i.e. those relating to information about the

city (the map, the directories, the agenda and 'how to get around') which also have an even greater

potential for service and use due to the fact of being mobile. The applications are developed for

electronic agendas such as 'e-pocket' and for conventional mobile telephone equipped with WAP

access (in practice, the majority of the handsets available at the marketplace). It is interesting to

point out the fact of having available unique and well integrated information databases, which

allows a relatively economical adaptation of the services for new channels and with very low costs

of maintenance and management of contents.

As we have stated before, in recent years there has been a predisposition on the part of

international organisations, social sectors and the ICT industry, as well as academic sectors to

facilitate access to the public websites for people with different types of disabilities. It is a topic of

enormous debate and complexity, particularly for websites as extensive as the one of Barcelona. In

this period, the municipal teams of Internet have established regulations as regards brand new

developments and have some pages accessible with the regulation AA of the W3C, such as its

own main home page or a specific website for people with disabilities50, although we are still a long

way from the standards that these sectors are demanding. However, there have been very fast

advances in the adaptation of the website so that it can be accessible and can be browsed with the

most usual open source applications, that, at least for surfing the Internet, almost 10% of the users

of the municipal website use.

In that period, have been developed services of radio (Radio Scan), television (broadcast of the

Plenary of the Council) and many video applications. The RSS systems for news sindication has

been included as well.

And last, but not least, the interactive services should be highlighted, such as games and

experiences in which the participation of the user is necessary. These are purely entertainment

services, although the thematic contents refers to the city or the experience of a Barcelona citizen

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and in the case of games the aim has been to achieve a didactic or pedagogical approach of civic

behaviour. The production during these years has been huge, with very sophisticated applications

such as 'Dedicate a star', the 'beach game', the 'Agora', the 'Barcelonagramas' or the game 'Do

you know Barcelona?'. Some authors have pointed out the proximity and use of these types of

applications for advanced experiences of democratic participation, although for the time being it

seems exaggerated to consider the case of Barcelona within these examples51.

In Spain the e-Gov rankings have become very popular, particularly those that compare the

municipal websites with a long list of indicators about the quantity and complexity of the services.

Since the first edition in 2001 the City Council has come top in the studies by the Fundación Auna

(now, Fundación France Telecom) with the University Carlos III, as well as those of the Municipal

Website magazine with the University Pompeu Fabra and those of the Instituto de Empresa52.

Finally the Spanish and European acknowledgements and awards received during this period,

seem to confirm Barcelona, despite weaknesses we have mentioned, as one of the world

experiences of reference in the development of net services for the Goverment53.

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III. ADOPTION OF THE MUNICIPAL WEBSITE

We believe that the phenomenon of the e-Government can be studied as one more example of the

processes of diffusion of innovations, and in particular, the ICT within the value chain and social

relations. According to the theory of Rogers54, any innovation suffers a process of social adoption

that goes through a series of states in which different proportions of the target public assimilate

and use the innovation, until its adoption is almost complete by the social system to which it is

aimed. According to this model, it is possible to identify five groups of adopters (the innovators, the

early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and the laggards) who are distributed in a

certain proportion of frequencies similar to a normal distribution. The slope of the curve is

determined by the speed (rate of adoption) in which the process of adoption is produced. A critical

mass of users is obtained as of 50% of the demand (Figure 3).

Figure 3. The adoption curve of innovations


In terms of the individual process of adoption, this depends mainly on the aspects related to the

product, the situational context and the relation with other purchasers55. The studies about the

advanced use of Internet, as for example, electronic purchasing, highlights the fact that adoption is

linked to the perceptions of usefulness and security and the individual experience of the user (for

example, older and intensive users of Internet tend to purchase more by Internet than others56).

The process of adoption follows a cycle that goes through the stages of (1) knowledge of the offer,

(2) development of interest and predisposition to trying out, (3) acquisition or trying out the

purchase, and (4) repeated or loyal purchasing. Rogers' model has been used extensively in the

world of marketing57 and more recently also for the study of the spread of ICT, socially and in the

heart of the organisations58. However the phenomenon of the social use and adoption of the e-Gov

has been less studied, probably because until very recently, according to what we have seen, the

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evaluation models used have been based on theoretical stages of supply. Only recently has it been

recognised the importance of analysing the demand and real use of the services, as an indicator of

the success of e-Gov, in terms of efficacy, effectiveness and return on investment.59. From their

standpoint, the Public Administration haven't either been inclined to publish extensively, and

certainly not in a critical way the results of these processes, specially the figures of use by the

public.

Also in this the previous study by Castells and Ollé about Barcelona is innovative, and contains a

small piece in which they analyse the positive relation between the use of certain online services of

the City Council and the characteristics and interests of the Barcelona Internauts60.

The studies that the City Council of Barcelona currently carry out are aimed at understanding the

process of adoption of the different services of Internet, in particular the electronic procedures, and

to design the product and marketing actions to accelerate the process, within the trend of the 'user-

focused e-government' which is beginning to be more common in Anglo-Saxon countries61.

The City Council of Barcelona incorporates in the studies of usage and satisfaction with the

municipal services (Omnibus quarterly and six-monthly studies62) questions related to the

penetration of internet in the city, the use of citizen attention services and the municipal website.

Online surveys are also carried out and there is a section of the homepage that collects the opinion

of the users63. The figures of use were audited not long ago by a national private audit agency and

published on the website64.

In recent years broader and more specific studies have been carried out about Internet in the city,

the use of bcn.es and electronic procedures65. The systems for recording and classifying of the real

use have been improved and standardised, which allows us to have a longitudinal comparative

history. Finally a follow up has been done about the use of bcn.es in relation to the main city

websites around the world, using an international measurement system of the relative position.

All of the above has allowed us to observe the evolution with regard to the results published in the

research by Castells and Ollé, and about the process of adoption of the public website and its most

advanced services, with a precision that didn't exist at the time; although there are still some

inconsistencies in the methods of recording, measurement and counting that the City Council

should correct for its internal management and in the interest of the users and researchers.

For the following analysis, the opinion studies that have been used that are shown in Figure 4. For

the real use of the different services of the website, the count that the City Council carried out by

means of 'webtrends' software has been used, as well as the application of registration of the

municipal procedures through all the channels (RAT). For the comparison with other city websites,

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the analysis carried out by the Technical Department of Internet of the City Council was used,

making use of the information gained from the Alexa benchmark66.

Figure 4. Market research. Sources used.

‘Internet in the city' survey (In person. December 2004 - January 2005)

Users of Barcelona website survey. (Internet. July - December 2004)

Qualitative study about www.bcn.es (Gabinete Burgos Mestre. January 2005)

Ómnibus Municipal. (Telephone survey. Six-monthly)

Online procedure survey. (Gabinete DYM/Ogilvy. April 2006)

Online procedure survey. (Internet. Gabinete Multiplica. June 2006)

Qualitative study of usability. (Gabinete Arquinauta. May - June 2006)

Penetration of the municipal website

According to previous studies, in June 200667 60.9% of the households of Barcelona had an

Internet connection, of which nearly two thirds had braodband connections. Few households where

there is a computer do not already have an Internet connection.

In the major survey of January 200568, 58.9% of the Barcelona citizens stated that they use the

net. Of the 'internauts' (net users) 55% stated that they connect for more than 10 hours a week.

The majority of the net users connect from home (74.3%), and from work (39.7%), and the use is

mainly personal (93.4%) and professional (56.5%). Not surprisingly, the majority of users connect

with Internet to look for information and communicate by e-mail (Figure 5), but there are also

relatively advanced transactional services, such as booking trips, electronic banking and carrying

out procedures with the Administrations (27.5% of the users).

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Figure 5. Uses of Internet

Source: Internet and the Website of Barcelona, January 2005.

46.8% of the net users say they have visited the website of the City Council of Barcelona69.

Compared with the general internaut of the city, the users of bcn.es have been users of the

Internet for longer and make more intensive use of the web, both for personal reasons and

especially professional (Figure 6). 70% connect for more than 10 hours a week.

Figure 6. Aims for the use of Internet.

Source: Internet and the Website of Barcelona, January 2005b.

Comparing these figures with the study about Internet and Catalonia in 2002 and with the

metropolitan survey of 2003, quoted by Castells and Ollé, and despite the differences in method,

one can conclude that the growth in the share of bcn.es in the Internet market of Barcelona has

been very significant. In 200370, 44.5% of the population stated that they used Internet, of which

21.7

22.0

27.5

28.1

36.8

36.9

38.4

38.4

44.4

48.2

86.8

95.1

To work (Teleworking)

To download / watch films

To do procedures with the Administrations

To study / do homework

To inform about / do bank transactions

To surf (without a specific aim)

To chat (messenger, others

To download, listen to music

To make reservations (trips, flights, etc.)

To consult the press

To receive/send e-mails

To look for/receive information

93.4 94.4

56.5

69.9

31.1 35.4

0

20

40

60

80

100%

Personal Professional Academic

Internauts Users of web in BCN

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24.3% used the municipal Internet. Furthermore, the website of the city seemed to gain more as

the use of Internet increased, is more varied and surpasses the initial share of innovative users.

In the survey of 2005, the interviewees were asked about the type of consultations they made in

the website of the city. The results are shown in Figure 7, and seem to confirm that between 75

and 80% are uses for information, among which should be highlighted the wide use of the city

map.

Figure 7. Types of consultations of the website of Barcelona

Map/Cartography 30.3%

Cultural/leisure/history information 20.0%

Administrative procedures/information and taxes 12.1%

Infrastructures and amenities (telephones/addresses/timetables) 11.2%

Information about transport/mobility 9.6%

Public admin exams /job offers 4.2%

Information about Barcelona, neighbourhoods… 3.7%

Information in general 3.6%

Information about housing 3.4%

Source: Internet and the website of Barcelona, January 2005c.

All these figures confirm the conclusions by Castells and Ollé and other studies, that coincide in

the sense that the social use of Internet is linked to its usefulness for daily life of the people. In the

case of Barcelona, an additional effect is produced, something not so common in the websites of

the cities around the world, and it is the fact that the most requested services compete successfully

with other sources of public and private information. Effectively, according to another survey71, the

municipal website appears as a place of reference for obtaining information about the city in

Internet, in the same way as the City Council's 010 telephone service is for users of telephone

information.

The real figures of usage, obtained from the municipal records, continue to confirm these

conclusions but introduce some new elements that we will examine later on.

The study by Castells and Ollé provided a series of basic indicators of use as at December 2002.

In 2002, the website received something more than 12 million visits. In 2003 a certain stabilisation

of these figures of use was produced, which took off again from 2004 onwards, with a spectacular

new upturn which has been produced throughout 2006. If we project lineally the figures of use for

the first six months of 200672, the municipal website will end up receiving some 37 million visits,

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approximately 100,000 visits a day, and around September 2006 will have reached the magical

number of 100 million visits since its creation, 11 years ago.

It also seems possible to deduce that a process of substitution of channels is taking place, or at

least, the net growth of the demand for services of information and citizen attention, that are

habitually expansive, are being produced in favour of Internet and at the cost of the traditional

channels, much more expensive. It is foreseen that if the trend is maintained, during 2006 the

demand for onsite and telephone services will have dropped to the levels of four years ago (Figure

8).

Figure 8. Use of the different channels


It is not easy to make comparisons with other private or public websites, except for those subject to

homologated controls such as those of the spanish OJD, that have recently changed their counting

system. On the other hand, one can get a relatively valid approximation comparing the position in

the traffic rank carried out by Alexa, a company of the Amazon group. According to the same

source, the website of Barcelona would be the best placed website among the European cities,

moreover occupying a very good position at a world level, in a group which includes Tokyo, Sao

Paulo, Sydney, New York, Melbourne, Brisbane and Osaka (Figure 9). This fact is even more

significant if we consider that the majority of these cities are much bigger than Barcelona and have

figures of penetration and use of Internet also higher. In Barcelona's favour is the fact of having a

unique URL address, that includes all the addresses of the municipal websites.

3,943,5973,347,199

4,091,3093,800,000

2,073,8591,621,682 2,000,0002,385,791

12,327,193

3,037,208

23,530,991

37,000,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 forecast

2006

Telephone

In person

Web

+200%

-7%

-4%

2003-06

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Figure 9. Comparison of the traffic rank of the municipal websites of cities around the world.73

Source: www.alexa.com, 31st May 2006.

Use of the municipal Internet services

If we examine the use of the provision of services of bcn.es, we can observe, with more precise

counting than that which we had at the time74 and with the enormous growth in recent years, that

there is a clear trend towards the use of the most useful and practical services linked to daily life.

Three quarters of the visits are those of the services such as the map and street maps of the city

(the authentic star application of the website), the guide of amenities (the 'Yellow pages'), and the

agenda of the city (a sort of 'Leisure Guide'). The sections of tourism, traffic and culture also

occupy highlightable positions (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Ranking of services


Méx

ico

DF

Toron

to

Osa

ka

Barce

lona

Brisba

ne

New

Yor

k

Sidne

y

Sao P

aulo

Per

th

Mel

bour

ne

Rio

de Jan

eiro

Peq

uín

Tokio

0

2.000

4.000

6.000

8.000

10.000

12.000

14.000

9,000,000

655,000

724,000

734,000

818,000

1,135,000

1,500,000

1,525,000

9,600,000

10,600,000

Home News

Statistics

Urban Planning

Culture

Traffic

e-Services

Tourism

Diary of Events

City Guide

Amenities

2004 2005 projection 2006

% 05-06

77%

59%

86%

31%

14%

28%

102%

73%

47%

40%

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We have maintained this classification so as to be able to make consistent comparisons with

previous years. The Technical Department of Internet of the City Council of Barcelona is

constructing a new system for counting, that collects directly the visits to the sections just as they

are presented in the website without subsequently reclassifying them and for which we have the

results for 2005. (Figure 12).

Figure 11. Monthly visits to the different sections of the website in 2005

Source: City Council of Barcelona, January 2006.

It is very interesting to observe various phenomenon that were not present some years ago. On the

one hand, the appearance of 'communities' of certain importance that use specialised individual

websites (schools, libraries, urban planning, statistics, culture, youth, etc.). On the other hand the

success of the entertainment sections, such as experience or interactive games: according to this

count, the 'Beach game' (related to the civic use of the beaches of the city) would have been the

second most visited section throughout 2005, with almost 2 million visits, and the games and

experiences overall reach nearly three and a half million visits. These sections don't have a

practical or professional use, and do not usually appear in any of our studies and in almost none of

the literature. In fact, with regard to the research of Castells and Ollé, throughout recent years,

these sections and those of procedures are the ones which have emerged with a significant

importance, both in terms of volume and growth.

The experience of use seems in general to be satisfactory, with ratings higher than seven points

out of ten in recent years. In the biggest survey placed on the homepage in January 2005, the

users rated the website with 3.5 points out of 5, and 93.8% said they would use it again. The most

highly rated attributes were information, usefulness, look and clarity, with answers of over 80% in

agreement. The most highly rated services were the map of the city, the directory of amenities and

procedures, with more than 7 points out of ten.

City Guide 504,726 Municipal Schools 41,464

Beach Game 399,84 Culture 40,947

Tourism 97,059 UrbanPl i

38,957

Fotoweb bcn 2006 93,029 ICUB. Gaudí2002

37,533

Diary of events 92,953 Department of Statistics 35,390

General Library 87,036 NoiseG

33,653

Traffic 73,909 The BCNSk

32,710

Publications 69,197 BCNPIC

28,852

Internal browser 61,515 CIAJ (Information CentredAdvice for youth)

27,309

City Councilti

57,557 Leisure 25,425

Presentation ofB l

46,162 Mercè festivities 22,030

Directories 45,870 News in catalan 21,813

Do I love 43,345

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e-Services

Finally, we will examine the process of adoption of e-procedures or electronic administrative

services among the users of the website. According to the survey of 200575, 27.5% of the users

say that they carry out transactions with the Administrations, an answer that initially seemed to us

to be courtesy or that it included under this epigraph the consultations of information about

procedures and processes76. In their study, Castells and Ollé did not have data about the

phenomenon and the researchers carried out a field study taking the information from some weeks

obtained from the municipal citizens' attention service.

In June 200677 a series of quantitative and qualitative studies were carried out to look in depth into

the use of e-procedures with the City Council of Barcelona. According to one of them, carried out

jointly with the municipal Omnibus to 1,300 citizens, 69.2% of the interviewed people said that they

had carried out procedures with the City Council of Barcelona by any of the channels in the last

four years. 40.3% stated doing so once or more times a year, and 28.9% once every two, three or

four years. Of this market, made up of approximately 900,000 people, 70.8% say that they know of

the possibility of carrying out procedures by Internet, 32.22% say they are interested or

predisposed to doing so, 19.5% (some 180,000 people) say they have done so, and 10.87% state

that they do so habitually.

Figure 12. Cycle of adoption of the of the procedures by the citizens

Source: City Council of Barcelona, 2006.

The experience is satisfactory in the majority of the cases: 70.6% have completed the procedure

and the service was rated with between 7 points (in this survey) and 7.2 (in the study about

Internet and Barcelona 2005 that we have commented on). The main reasons for not carrying out

procedures by Internet are lack of knowledge (9.4% of those surveyed) or the fact of being unable

Sample: 1,300,000 citizens

Do procedures

directly with the

Council

Know the option

to do procedures

online

Are open to doing

online

procedures

Have done online

procedures with

the Council

Always do online

procedures with

the Council

69.2% 899,600

70.8% 636,917

32.22% 289,851

19.65% 176,77110.87% 97,786

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to complete the whole procedure by Internet ('in the end I have to go in person to complete it' was

the answer in only 6.27 of the cases).

A second survey was carried out with a group we call 'not citizens', that is to say, businesses,

business agents and professionals. This is a survey carried out in person with 753 people who

represent a market of 175,000 businesses and professionals. According to the results, 84.8% of

this groups state that they carry out procedures with the City Council, although only 59.5% say that

they do so directly (the others do so by means of agents or representatives). Of these, 61.2%

seem to know about the possibility of doing procedures by Internet, 33.90% show interest or are

predisposed to do so, and 56.70% (approximately 69,500 entities) actually do so. The most

intensive users are the agents or representatives of the property (49.99% say they do more than

three procedures a year) compared with the companies and the rest of the professionals (34.02%

of whom do so). (Figure 13)

Figure 13. Cycle of adoption of procedures by the non-citizens and companies

Source: City Council of Barcelona, 2006b.

During recent years, the process for counting municipal procedures has been normalised by

means of the different channels, which is not exactly simple. Figure 14 shows the historical series

since 2001. In that year 188,320 procedures were carried out by Internet, which reached 1,317,692

in 2005, with an inter-annual growth of 144%. The star service was an urban planning application

(called BCNPIC) that allows downloading of the plan or land registry information of any plot of land

in the city, without the need of a personal identification. During 2005, 1,101,399 of these

procedures were carried out, which are nearly all done exclusively by Internet. Effectively, the most

requested procedures are those of Urban Planning and Treasury (the Tax Office) which confirms

the majority of use by professionals, which already appeared in the study by Castells and Ollé.

Sample: 206,262 companies

Do procedures

directly with the

Council

Know the option

to do procedures

online

Are open to doing

online

procedures

Have done online

procedures with

the Council

Always do online

procedures with

the Council

84.8% 174,910

61.2% 75,108

33.9% 41,604

56,7% 69.58649.99% of agents

34.02% of companies

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Figure 14. Evolution of the number of procedures by Internet


In recent months and for the study of municipal procedures by Internet, an effort has been made to

refine the information, so as to obtain a more valid basis for analysis and forecast. According to

this recent analysis, the total number of municipal procedures carried out during 2005, was

3,783,031, of which 35% were done by Internet. If we discount the effect of BCNPIC, the total

would be 2,681,632, of which 9% were done by Internet. For the group of companies and

professionals, the share of the online procedures reaches 33.4%. The share of the Internet

channel increases rapidly, above all in relation to the increase of availability of the services of

higher potential and that the citizens have systems of electronic identification. The share of

procedures by Internet for the first quarter of 2006 is situated at 13%, without the PIC, and 43% if

the PIC is included. On confirming this trend, that seems to repeat itself for the second quarter, at

the end of 2006 the number of procedures carried out by Internet will be similar to the number of

procedures done in the municipal offices, and in the case of the professional public, the Internet

channel will become the preferred channel for carrying out procedures (Figure 15).

Figure 15. Evolution of the demand for procedures by channel78


50 ,6%

18 ,7%

45,0%

12,8%

3 3 ,3%

16 ,1 %

41 ,3%40 ,0% 42,2%

Web In pers on Telephone

2004

2005

2006

1,500,000

1,317,692

1,132,478

983,520

591,947

188,320

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 forecast

2006

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With the analysis we have presented up to here, we can conclude that the services of e-

government in Barcelona can be found in an advanced state of adoption mostly among the net

users, or internauts, of the city (given that they represent half the number of citizens). The adoption

of the information services by Internet is very advanced (representing more than 40% of the

potential users, and therefore reaching the level of 'critical mass'), and is substituting the traditional

channels. The use of e-services is at a very advanced level for the groups of companies and

professionals (almost 60% are customers) although the process for citizens in general is still

somewhat slower.

All in all, the level of knowledge of the services and the predisposition for purchasing let's us augur

the fact that the process of social adoption of e-procedures will continue, if suitable product and

marketing actions are produced, and it will be even bigger if digital ID is extended among the

citizens and companies.

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IV. CONCLUSIONS

From the previous analysis, we believe it is possible to reach some conclusions, or at least, the

initial confirmation of some hypotheses of work, that should be agreed on for subsequent research.

1. In the period analysed (2003-2006) the continuity and sustainability of the 'Barcelona Model' for

e-government seems to be confirmed, both in the use of Internet by the Municipal

Administration, and due to its acceptance and adoption by the citizens. The characteristic

features can also be confirmed, as described in the work of Castells and Ollé, at least clearly

the two that we have studied in the article (the 'informational accountability' and the

'construction of the cybercity').

2. In this stage, a new cycle has begun of 'institutionalisation' of e-government in the Municipal

Administration, characterised by the extension and adoption of Internet by the majority of the

municipal services by means of organisational, technical and legal changes, and particularly two

instruments: The Strategic Plan of Information Systems, and the Regulatory Ordinance for e-

Government.

3. Also in this period, we have observed the development of online services that have a number of

characteristics of the most advanced states in the development of e-Government, in terms of

the level of transactionality and internal and external integration, and in the creative use of

technology, and the taking advantage of the possibilities of digital means. Worth highlighting is

the case of the games and experiences of interactivity. However, we have observed limitations

and weaknesses in the e-services area and in the lack of development of e-participation.

4. We have also found in an advanced phase the social adoption of e-Government among the

population and the substitution of traditional channels by Internet. This cycle will affect all the

services and publics. The adoption is mostly for the services of general information about the

city, and for the electronic services aimed at companies and professionals, but as regards e-

services, a critical mass has not been reached yet among the general population.

5. In terms of the individual process of adoption, not only have relevant barriers not appeared so

that the itinerary can be fast, but the level of knowledge, predisposition to purchase, the rating

of experience, and the repeated purchasing augur promising results, if we act correctly in terms

of the variables of access, product and marketing. The reaction of the market towards digital

identification is still an uncertain issue that should be examined with greater attention.

With regard to the method, we have suggested that the process of adoption is an indicator of the

success of e-Government, not only in terms of its acceptance by the public it is aimed at, but also

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because it is the way for fulfilling the promises of effectiveness and efficiency and to better

recuperate the investment. The analysis of the diffussion of innovations are useful instruments for

knowledge and intervention. The phenomenon of Barcelona seems to confirm these hypotheses.

Finally, please allow us to make two observations. Throughout the analysis, there have appeared

for us some doubts about the concept of e-Government in itself and about the theorising of the

states of maturity, that we have not been able to explore here. We suggest that what is called e-

Government is basically an example of the processes of adoption and use of ICT inside and

outside organisations, and not a 'different' type or reality of Administration.

We also have doubts about the term 'model', which has perhaps been used with an excess of

liberty in the case of Barcelona, phenomenon responds to its reality, its history, its time and its

authors. There probably exist phenomenon, realities or practices, that may be worth observing for

different reasons and that respond to the communities of practice and to researchers to codify,

analyse or disseminate.

Therefore, with the above-mentioned limitations, we can conclude that the e-Government in

Barcelona is at an advanced stage of implementation, but maybe we can hardly call it either a

'model' or being-of 'e-Government'.

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Notes

1 José Ramón Rodríguez is Deputy Managing Director of the City Council of Barcelona, and Managing

Director of the Municipal Institute of Information technology. He is a collaborating professor in Information

Technology, Telecommunication and Multimedia studies from the Open University of Catalonia. The

author is grateful for the collaboration of Míriam Alvarado, of the Municipal Institute of Information

Technologies of Barcelona and Marc Garriga, of the Technical Department of Internet of the City Council

of Barcelona.

2OCDE, 2004. Chap. 1.

3Following the OCDE (2004), we use it here as synonyms.

4Cerrillo, 2006.

5Cerrillo, 2005.

6Borge, 2005.

7Sanromá, 2005.

8Eurocities, 2005.

9Commission, 2003.

10Juris, 2004; Castells, 2004.

11Cerrillo, 2005b.

12Turban et al., 2000.

13A very complete revision can be found in Cardona, 2003.

14 It can be found in Fundación, 2006. Garcia, 2005. Esteves, 2005. Ciberpaís, 2006.

15Bouwman et al., 2005. Chap. 9.

16OCDE, 2005. Chap. 1.

17Booz, 2005.

18Castells and Ollé, 2004. Chap. 1.

19Castells, 2000.

20 A recent description of the so-called 'Barcelona Model' can be found in Rodríguez, 2005 and Rodríguez,

2006.


22Idem. Chap. 6.

23Cardona, 2003.

24Booz, 2005.

25Fundación, 2006 (in collaboration with the University Carlos III). García, 2005 (in collaboration with the

University Pompeu Fabra) and Esteves, 2005 (Instituto de Empresa).

26Rogers, 2003, specially chap. 5 to 7.

27Kotler, 1997. Chap. 11.

28Bouwman et al., 2005. Chap. 1.

29Rogers, 2003. Agarwal, 2000.

30Kumar, 2000; Liao and Tow Cheung, 2001.

31See main sources in Figure 4.

32www.bcn.es/b-online (July 2006)

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33Baskerville, 1999.

34Cardona, 2003. We specially follow the characterisation of Brum and Di Maio, from Gartner Group.

35Booz, 2005.


37 Di Maio, 2005.

38Based on Himanen, 2001.

39www.bcn.es/b-online (July 2006). The future continuity of these adhoc programmes and investments

within the Public Administration is always uncertain, especially when these are promoted by specific

people. The suitable consolidation and evolution of the structures created and of the investment and their

impact on running costs would be an initial indication of the continuation and sustaining of the current

strategies in this field.

40McFarlan, 2003.

41De Quinto, 2006.

42www.bcn.es/orae (July 2006)

43 Castells and Ollé, 2004. p.144

44The levels of interactivity of the services of the Administration with the citizens through Internet have been

defined by the European Commission in the eEurope 2005 programme in the following way:

Level 1 (T1): online information of the public services.

Level 2 (T2): interaction in one direction, downloading forms.

Level 3 (T3): two-way interaction: processing forms.

Level 4 (T4): complete transaction of the procedure: payment (if necessary), decision-making, etc.

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/index_en.htm

The Procedures Portal incorporates information, and sometimes forms, from around 400 procedures from

different municipal Public Administrations.

45Comission, 2006.

46 They will be available in the new 'Procedures Portal' under construction. Up until now Barcelona has

produced an option for the 'automatization' of the most simple procedures. Which as far as we can see

make up the main block of the demand for procedures of the citizens.

47 They require legal modofications which are under way.

48 Under construction.

49www.bcn.es/ajuntamentescolta/english (July 2006)

50www.bcn.es/accessible (July 2006)

51Bertran and Martí, 2006.

52 See note 25.

53Cardona, 2003.

54Rogers, 2003.

55 Agarwal, 2000.

56Liao and Tow Cheung, 2001.

57Kotler, 1997. Chap. 11.

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58Bouman et al., 2005.

59 OCDE, 2005; Booz, 2005.

60 Castells and Ollé, 2004. Chap. 5.

61OCDE, 2005. Chap. 1.

62www.bcn.es/english/omnibus (July 2006)

63www.bcn.es/english/opinio/enquesta.htm (July 2006)

64ojdinteractiva.ojd.es (July 2006)

65See main sources in Figure 4.

66www.alexa.com (July 2006)

67City Council of Barcelona, 2006.

68 City Council of Barcelona, 2005a.

69In January 2005, the latest date that we have information available, the enormous expansion of the use of

services of 2005 and 2006 hadn't been produced. Probably this figure is currently somewhat higher.

70Castells and Ollé, 2004.

71Figures of frequency provided by the Technical Department of Internet.

72Idem.

73 To obtain the Traffic Rank the number of different visitors to each website is taken into account, as well

as the number of page requests and the number of websites that have a link to this website. Considering

these three figures, a relative (daily) position is obtained that orders the websites. With these figures a

ranking is produced that orders all the websites in the world based on the most relevant (#1).

74See note 70.

75City Council of Barcelona, 2005b.

76 In the same table of multi-responses, the interviewee was shown a question which said: 'to obtain

information and procedures with the banks'.

77See sources in Figure 4.

78 Includes BCNPIC figures

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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THE ‘BARCELONA MODEL’OF e-GOVERNMENT

Jose Ramón Rodríguez

Chief Information OfficerCity Council of Barcelona

Article published in “Penteo ITC Analyst” www.penteo.com

Nov-Dec. 2006

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THE 'BARCELONA MODEL OF e-GOVERNMENT

By José Ramón Rodríguez1

The intensive use of information and communication technologies (ICT), and in

particular of Internet, in the carrying out of the activities of the Public Administration, is

known as Electronic Administration or e-Government, the aim of which being to

improve or transform the relation with the citizens, the relations between

Administrations, the provision of public services, internal efficiency and participation2.

In recent years interest has been awoken in Europe by the application of e-

Government in the City Council of Barcelona, both in the academic world and in the

field of public management. The City Council has received a number of

acknowledgements and awards, and its representatives have been invited to

international conferences, and a 'Barcelona Model' of e-Government is being talked

about3. Why is this interest produced? What are the characteristics of differentiating

elements that make Barcelona an example to observe or follow by other Public

Administrations?

Characteristics of the ‘Barcelona Model’

On our opinion, Barcelona and other European Administrations (in particular, probably,

the United Kingdom, Denmark and some government agencies of Holland, as well as a

number of regional administrations and some City Councils, such as Vienna) are joined

together in a state of maturity in terms of the provision and demand of online services

and a certain re-approach being produced in the institutions of the Union with regard to

the development of e-government4. In this new approach, emphasis is put on aspects

of effectiveness and efficiency (that is to say, to what extent the online services are

contributing to the increase of wealth and employment, the improvement of public

services and the reduction of costs, and the extent to which these are used and taken

advantage of socially) and of the inclusion (that is to say, to what extent the electronic

services are reducing and not increasing the so-called 'digital gap' between the richest

and technologically enlightened citizens and the poorest and electronically illiterate

citizens).

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The characteristics of this 'new wave' are in our opinion the following5:

1) The strength and sophistication of the provision of online services.

2) The transformation of the processes and creation of new services based on ICT.

3) The internal adoption within the municipal Administration, by means of legal,

organisational and technological changes.

4) The co-operation with other Administrations and with third parties, to share data

and processes.

5) The massive social adoption, which effectively allows the substitution of attention

channels and to reduce costs in delivering the service.

New services and benefits

Since its creation in 1995, the municipal website (www.bcn.es, or www.bcn.cat), has

been growing in the quantity and quality of information and services. Currently, it is an

authentic federal portal, made up of 140 websites, 80,000 static pages and more than

120 applications. The content manager (Vignette V6, in the process of migrating to the

version V7) assures the homogeneity of style, industrialises the process of production

and allows the reuse of components6.

The portal offers services of information, interaction, transactions and electronic

participation. In recent years the online Administration has been extensively developed,

with services which allow the completion of procedures on the website, management of

personal accounts, and electronic authentication. Currently some 70 procedures can

be carried out by Internet (which represents 90% of the municipal procedures), of

which 21 can be totally completed online (which represents a potential of 65%). A list of

the most requested procedures is shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Procedures than can currently be carried out by Internet (selection)

Services have been developed which allow the personalisation of contents ('My Diary')

or to access information of individuals or companies (the 'Citizen's Folder' awarded

prizes internationally, and the 'Companies and Entities Folder'). These services can be

accessed through different levels of secure access, by a user-password provided by

the City Council in the Citizen Attention Offices, and by the most accepted digital

certificates. The procedures that are fully completed online and the personalised

services represent a very high level of integration with the back office. For example, the

'Citizen Folder' accesses to 24 million records in a large number of applications and

databases. The new 'eServices Portal', currently under construction, will allow the

online completion of practically all the municipal procedures (integrating features as

registry, archive, case handling, electronic payment, etc.) and will be totally accessible

(AA, in the classification of WAI).

In recent years more sophisticated technical settings have been entered, such as

applications which allow the changing of channels, services for mobile channels, and

audio and visual applications. There has been a clear advance in the compatibility with

browsers and applications of open software and in ensuring accessibility for the

disabled.

Worth highlighting are the new interactive services, in the form of games and

experiences which require the participation of the user. These are purely entertainment

services, although the thematic contents refer to the city or show pedagogical activities

about civic behaviour.

· Copy of topographic, urban planning and cadastre plans (PIC)

· Direct debiting or receipts

· Residence and co-existence notes

· Consultation of documentation and lost property

· Consultation of state of works or activity license processes

· Payment of taxes and fines by credit card

· Payment of capital gains for property transfer

· Information about works

· Consultations, incidents, claims and suggestions

· Certificate of payment of municipal taxes

· Certificate of non-existence of debts

· Presentation of allegations or appeals against traffic fines

· Payment of vehicle tax

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The new management service of incidents and claims (IRIS) obtained an award from

the European Union in 2005. The application allows the user to register an incident in

the public thoroughfare or a complaint with the municipal services through multiple

channels and the municipal intranet. The most accepted channel is the new free

telephone 900 226 226 (the 'civic behaviour telephone'). The application allows the

immediate communication with the back office responsible for solving the problems

reported and the follow up and resolution of the procedure by means of different

channels, including the response by SMS.

During this period, the City Council has entered the world of applications with mobile

devices, making available to the public the most requested services from the municipal

website, i.e., information about the city (the city map, the directories, the diary, and the

'how to get around' by public transport) that also has a higher service in situations of

mobility. The applications are developed for electronic agendas such as e-pocket and

for conventional mobile telephones with WAP access7.

Institutionalisation of e-Government

The characteristic of the most advanced models of e-Government throughout the world

is, we could say paradoxically, its non-characterisation: the online services stop being a

differentiated add-on service, the new technologies and the website channels are

routinely integrated in their work processes, in the back offices and in the relations with

third parties, and the administrative acts are equally legal in the virtual world and in the

real world. Overall, the reference to an e-government as a separate entity is no longer

useful.

Our opinion is that in recent years the City Council of Barcelona has entered into a new

phase that we could call the 'institutionalisation' of e-Government characterised by the

setting in motion of the most advanced services of e-Government (that we have

described in the previous section) and by the integration of online services in the heart

of the Municipal Administration and with other Administrations by means of

organisational, technological and legal changes.

In this period, which coincided with the new political mandate, the Strategic Plan for

Information Systems was issued, which collects the challenges of the Municipal Action

Plan in questions related to information technology, and increased the budget in this

area by 75%, to the level of 50 million Euros, for a four year period. One of the four

axes of the action is that of e-Government, which received 20% of the investment. The

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Internet factory was placed under the Fourth Deputy Mayor, the person responsible for

the municipal management, and 'policy' commissions for e-Government and

Telecommunications were created. The position of Deputy Managing Director was

established, assigned to the Municipal Managing Director, being responsible for

Information Technology, Citizen Attention and having the transversal leadership of the

e-Government programme. The organisational model is similar to the e-Government

Units that have been created in countries such as the UK, Canada and New Zealand.

All the municipal services have more than one website within the general portal (139 at

the time of writing this article) and, although some are more delayed, the majority have

their procedures posted on the Internet.

In March 2006, the Regulatory Ordinance for e-Government was approved, a sort of

municipal 'law' that establishes the rights of the citizens in this field and the principles of

action of the Municipal Administration, while at the same time it regulates the legal

procedures for the publication of administrative information and for the carrying out of

online procedures, transposing for the first time to the field of internet the state

legislation in questions of common administrative procedure. What is relevant here is

the evolution from a concept of transparency and informal and voluntary accountability

in that which the Administration posts information and services online, to a concept of

legal accountability made up of a combination of subjective rights that the citizens can

demand in any moment (Figure 2). Barcelona had promoted at a European level the

"The European Charter of Rights for Citizens in the Knowledge Society", approved by

Eurocities, the major European Association of City Councils8. Recently the Spanish

Ministry of Public Administrations announced the application in the Parliament of an e-

Government Law.

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Figure 2. Citizen Rights in the framework of e-Government.

The other piece that sustains the building of the municipal e-Government is the

evolution of the model of enterprise information towards a complete model of service

oriented architecture (SOA), with new components of integration and web services.

Anyway, what is most important, is that the Internet channel is definitively one more

channel of relation, supported by processes, services, applications and common

databases (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Information Architecture

I· To address the local Government by electronic means

II· To demand that the Administration addresses them by these means

III· To not present documents that the City Council or other Administrations already have

IV· To get quality electronic contents

V· To gain access to administrative information

VI· To participate in decisions and in the improvement of the municipal management

VII· To access and use Electronic Government in spite of disabilities

VIII· To have training and support available

IX· To gain access and use the Electronic Government irrespective of the technologicaltools used

X· Confidentiality and protection of data

XI· Privacy and security of communications

Plataforma Tecnològica

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Portal Ciutadà Portal Tràmits P. Proveïdors P. Empleat

Internet PDAs Intranet Telefònic Presencial

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Co-operation and inter-operability

The aspects of integration of information and processes, within the organisation and

with other Administrations and companies, are probably one of the most advanced

signs of development of e-Government. They require efforts of functional and technical

standardisation, a certain level of re-engineering and cultural change in the

organisations affected and the construction of technological platforms of inter-

operability. In this period the City Council has reached an agreement and operates

extensively with the Tributary Administration of the State, the Land Registry

Department, the Official Journal and some other services of the Generalitat de

Catalunya, in a bilateral way.

Likewise there are agreements signed and applications in force with a number of

professional colleges and associations, to facilitate transactions with these collectives.

Some major companies and operators (banks, car hire fleets, etc.) can also access

information and applications by secure extranets.

The evolution during the same period of the Open Administration Consortium (AOC) as

a multilateral platform of inter-operability between the Catalan Administrations and the

State, has also facilitated the development and implementation of agreements in the

area of the municipal census, that allows the local Administrations to exchange

information about residence and co-existence, avoiding the need for the citizens to

move around the city.

The City Council of Barcelona has kept the policy of accepting multiple systems of

identification, in proportion with the legal importance of the administrative acts. With

regard to digital certificates, the most usual ones of the market are accepted, which are

validated by the public company CatCert, that belongs to the AOC Consortium.

Barcelona is the most active and advanced user of these platforms.

Other applications of interest in this field are the GeoPortal, which allows the exchange

and updating of geographical information between different Administrations, and the

new management of the minimum salary of social integration (PIRMI), a process which

is already integrated online between the state Administration (by means of the online

consultation of users income), the municipal Administration and the autonomous or

regional Administration.

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Social adoption

Until recently, the development policies for e-Government and research into these

areas was mainly based on the analysis of the supply of information and services

online, classified in a series of states or levels of maturity. The process of diffusion and

adoption of e-Government among potential users (citizens, companies and public

employees) has however been less studied and only recently has it been accepted that

the demand and real use of the services of e-Government is a key indicator of the

success of e-Government and a condition for capturing its benefits in effectiveness and

efficiency9.

The level of use of the online services of the City Council of Barcelona is one of the

aspects which most catches the attention internationally, in a city with the level of

penetration of internet that, although higher than the Spanish average, is just at the

level of the European average. The municipal website currently receives more than

100,000 visits daily, and according to the Alexa ranking, it is the most visited website in

Europe (the position which alternates from time to time with Berlin) and it is one of the

most relevant in the world10.

According to the evolution of the contacts through the different channels, it can be

deduced that a process of substitution of channels is taking place, or at least, that the

net increase of the demand for information services and citizen attention, that are

usually expansive, is being produced in favour of internet, as compared to the

traditional much more expensive channels. It is foreseen that if this trend continues,

during 2006 the demand for onsite, in person services and by telephone will have

dropped to the level of four years ago (Figure 4).

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Figure 4. Evolution of contacts by channel

According to experience and international literature, the social use of Internet is mainly

related to its usefulness for the daily life of people. This probably explains the success

of the website of Barcelona. In effect, three quarters of the consultations (and those of

greatest relative growth) are produced in the information pages of the city, such as the

map, the amenities guide (a sort of 'leisure guide'), services in which there exists strong

public and private competition. According to municipal studies half of the Internet users

of Barcelona are users of bcn.es, as well as the visitors (for example, nearly 25% of the

websites served are in English).

In terms of the most advanced services of electronic procedures, the figures available,

both in terms of the share of procedures carried out by Internet as well as the

penetration of the channel amongst the different groups of users, are also very

favourable. Confirming the trend of recent months, by the end of 2006 the share of

procedures by Internet will be around 43%, very close to the procedures carried out by

onsite, in person channels. For the whole of 2006, more than a million and a half

procedures will be carried out online. It should be highlighted that in these figures the

application called PIC (Point of Cadastral Information) has an exaggerated weight, the

application that allows the user to download, without identification, the plan and urban

planning and land registry reference for any allotment of the city, and that in 2005 this

reached the figure of more than a million procedures. If we discount this effect, the

procedures by Internet would be around 10% of the total channels, a more realistic

figure and one which we use for our programming and internal management.

3,943,5973,347,199

4,091,3093,800,000

2,073,8591,621,682 2,000,0002,385,791

12,327,193

3,037,208

23,530,991

37,000,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 forecast

2006

Telephone

In person

Web

+200%

-7%

-4%

2003-06

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Recently, the City Council has carried out extensive market research so as to find out

the level of knowledge and the use of the services of the electronic procedures among

the different segments of users. With this study it concluded that 56.70% of the

professional users (companies, freelance workers and business agencies) have carried

out procedures online with the City Council. 49.99% of accountants and the

professional middlemen usually carry out procedures by Internet, and 34.02% of the

companies. With regard to the individual users, the level of penetration is lower, with

19.65% who have carried out procedures online with the City Council and 10.87% who

do so usually.

The experience of use seems in general to be satisfactory. Of the website as a whole,

the average rating has always been higher than 7 in recent years. In the biggest survey

carried out on the homepage of the portal last year, the users rated the website with

3.5 points out of 5, and 93.8% stated that they would use it again. The most highly

rated attributes were the information, the usefulness, the aesthetics and clarity, with

more than 80% answering in agreement. The most highly rated services were the city

map, the directory of amenities and the electronic procedures, with a rating of more

than 7 out of 10. In terms of the experience of carrying out the procedures, 70.6%

stated that they had completed the procedure, and the service received a rating of 7 or

more out of 10, according to the surveys.

Future challenges

It can already be seen, to begin at the end, that to ensure a high level of adoption

among the general population is still a challenge for the City Council of Barcelona and

for the majority of the advanced Administrations, although the type of procedures and

users of the most frequent services (procedures about population, of which the most

intensive users are immigrants) do not make this easy. It is an unknown that is difficult

to forecast what the level of citizen response towards digital identification and the

extension and speed that the extension of electronic ID will be.

With regard to internal adoption, the difference between different municipal services

are still uneven. It is worth highlighting the lack of development of contracting services

and electronic purchasing, which are very important in the relation with companies.

With the Internet a complete re-engineering of the municipal Administration hasn't been

produced either, which continues in many aspects to be stuck in the old customs and

vices of the traditional Administration.

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Other areas of future development will have to be the services of participation and

electronic democracy and the application in the public Internet of the whole new world

of Internet 2.0 (with examples of personalisation of contents, development of virtual

communities, blogs, podcasts and other peer to peer applications).

In the field of citizen attention, the City Council should evolve in a more complete way

towards a system of multi-channel and inter-modal relations, that allow the follow up of

files by means of any channel and a more proactive relation with the users. It should

also complete the process of incorporation of procedures by Internet, opening the

public register to any class of communication, allowing the annexing of documents and

sending out electronic notifications.

In general terms, and when we are talking about public services, there always remains

a doubt about the continuity and sustainability of the efforts, when the people,

structures and political or economic priorities can change.

However, of all the challenges that the advanced Administrations have, and among

them the City Council of Barcelona, in our opinion what is most important is to ensure

the co-operation between the Administrations and third parties. The aim of e-

Government shouldn’t be the automation of processes, but as far as possible their

elimination, sharing information and applications, responding with them to the demand

by means of a proactive relation with the citizens. The signing of agreements and the

implementation of technological platforms is only an initial step which should be

followed by means of the effective internal adoption, the re-engineering of the

processes of the organisations effected and the change of attitudes of the operators.

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Notes

1José Ramón Rodríguez is Deputy Managing Director of Organisation and Information Systems

of the City Council of Barcelona and Managing Director of the Municipal Institute of Information

Technology. He is also a collaborating professor in Information Technology,

Telecommunications and Multimedia at the Open University of Catalonia. During more than 25

years of professional activity, he has alternated between private and public experience. He

worked for 15 years in multinational companies in consultancy and integration of systems, such

as Ernst&Young (nowadays Cap-Gemini) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (now IBM).

2 CERRILLO, A. (2006). L’Administració electrònica. Barcelona: UOC. OCDE (2004).

L’administracion électronique: un imperatif. Paris: OECD.

3 CASTELLS, M. and OLLE, E. (2004). El Model Barcelona II: l’Ajuntament de Barcelona a

la Societat Xarxa. Barcelona: UOC. RODRIGUEZ, JR. (2006). The ‘El Modelo Barcelona de

Administración electrónica: Adopción e Institucionalización” in UOC Papers, num. 3 (October

2006). Barcelona: UOC.

4 COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (2006). “2010 eGovernment Action

Plan: Accelerating eGovernment in Europe for the Benefit of All”. Brussels, 25th April 2006.

COM (2006), 173.

5 RODRIGUEZ, JR. (2006) “Adoption of eGovernment in Barcelona”. Communication to the 'E-

Challenges conference', Barcelona, October 2006. (Pending publication).

6 According to Gartner Group, it is a world reference practice in the implementation of that

content manager. See DI MAIO, A. (2005). “Consolidating Content Management in the City of

Barcelona”. Gartner, Inc. 21 of February 2005. www.gartner.com (October 2006).

7 For a revision of the recently projects of the City Council of Barcelona with regard to systems

and information technologies, and in particular, e-Government, you can consult the website

www.bcn.cat/b-online.

8EUROCITIES. “The European Charter of Rights for Citizens in the Knowledge Society”.

www.eurocities.org (October 2006)

9 BOUWMAN et al. (2005). Information and Communication Technology in Organizations.

London: Sage Publications. OCDE (2005). E-Government for better Government. Paris:

OECD.

10 To obtain the traffic rank is taking into account the number of different visitors to each

website, the number of requests for pages and the number of websites that have a link to this

website. With the analysis of these figures is got a daily position (daily) that orders the

websites. With this data, Alexa, a company from the Amazon group, produces a ranking that

orders all the websites in the world based on the most relevant.

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Lliurament del Premi Ciutat del Coneixement a la nit de clausura de l'IGC publicat el 20/04/2007 a les 08:00 h.

El projecte OROM de l'Ajuntament ha estat finalista dins de la categoria Projectes d'Universitats i institucions.

Aquest dijous s'ha celebrat el sopar de clausura de la 9aedició de l'IGC (Internet Global Congress) a la Sala Ovaldel MNAC, on es va fer el lliurament del Premi Ciutat delConeixement. Aquest premi té com objectiu el reconeixement a les millors iniciatives centrades en l’ús social de les noves tecnologies digitals.

En aquesta edició el guanyador ha estat el projecte impulsat per Punt Òmnia de la Fundació Fias i la Biblioteca del Centre Penitenciari de Joves de Barcelona,amb l’assessorament de la Universitat de Barcelona. L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és l’alfabetització digital dels reclusos, a través de tallers de creació i publicació de blogs.

Les tecnologies de la informació i les comunicacions (TIC) permeten als interns del centre penitenciari, desenvolupar hàbits, capacitats i actituds que possibiliten la seva inclusió social. Els blogs són una eina de comunicació personal, socialitzadora i bidireccional, i que permet trencar estereotips i prejudicis i es converteixen en referents normalitzadors.

El segon tinent d'alcalde, Jordi Portabella, és el president del jurat encarregat de concessió del premi, amb una dotació econòmica de 6.000 euros.

Des de l’àrea de Ciutat del Coneixement, del qual n'és el màxim responsable, es vol fer incís especial en evitar la fractura digital, i permetre als ciutadans amb més dificultats d’accés a les TIC, no quedar-ne exclosos. La segona edició dels premis Ciutat del Coneixement, permet la seva consolidació i que es converteixin en un referent per la integració social del progrés tecnològic.

Premis d'Innovació Digital

D'altra banda, en aquest acte també s'han lliurat els Premis IGC a la Innovació Digital tenen com a objectiu impulsar la investigació i el desenvolupament de les tecnologies digitals.

Aquest guardó -que consta de tres categories- pretén donar a conèixer i premiar el talent o els avenços, tant d'empreses, professionals o universitaris, que presentenprojectes de base tecnològica innovadors en el camp de les Tecnologies de la Informació i la Comunicació.

En la categoria de projectes "I+D de Mitjanes i Grans empreses" el guanyador ha estat iCat fm, un nou concepte d'emissora basat en la integració entre ràdio, Internet, televisió interactiva i les noves plataformes digitals. Pel que fa a la categoria de projectes "I+D de Petites empreses i emprenedors" el guanyador ha estat Person Counter, de l'empresa de tecnologia 3D WUTUTU, un sistema que permet comptar el nombre depersones que visualitzen un anunci ubicat al carrer o un producte en un lineal d'un supermercat. Per últim, en la categoria "I+D d'Universitats o Institucions" el guanyador ha estat l'investigació sobre posicionament en interiors per al projecte nacional m:Ciudad.

El projecte OROM de l'Ajuntament ha estat finalista dins de la categoria Projectes d'Universitats i institucions.

Més informació:

» Internet Global Congress [+] » Web del projecte OROM de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona [+]

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