The i-COIN project - Svenljunga · 2013-10-23 · The . i-COIN Project . Project part-financed by...

The i-COIN project The story told by all partners

www.i-coin.net

Lead partner: Municipality of Svenljunga Project leader: Christian Bonfré SE-512 80 Svenljunga Sweden

Project part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) within the BSR INTERREG III B Neighbourhood programme

The i-COIN Project Project part-financed by the European Union

i-COIN is a acronym for interregional COmmunication and Information Network

2


3

The i-COIN project ................................................... 4 Lead Partner, The municipality of Svenljunga ....................................................... 6 North Denmark EU-office .......................................................13 Cities on Internet Association .......................................................16 The municipality of Rehna .......................................................22 EUCC Baltic Office .......................................................32 The municipality of Tamsalu .......................................................34 Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences .......................................................40 ProArbeit/EU-office Landkreis Osterholz .......................................................45 University College of Borås .......................................................52 This is i-COIN .......................................................54


The i-COIN project The idea for the i-COIN project was to develop a new online communication service seen from the citizens’ point of view in cooperation with regional/local actors in rural/structurally weaker areas. We hoped that the i-COIN project should enable people to initiate a dialogue and that we quickly could obtain resolutions to their concerns using a communication system over the Internet. At that time there was the need for better public and other services (and e-services) especially for the citizens in rural/structurally weaker areas that brought together the partners. All selected partners wanted to improve these services by better-developed e-government/e-service through a participatory dialogue. This happened in 2005. The overall objective of the project was to strengthen the capacity and confidence of local and regional administrations to provide better services and effectively engage in the adaptation to a knowledge society by developing solutions and policies on e-government. The main target groups of the i-COIN project were citizens, NGOs, SMEs and local/regional administration. The proposal was initiated by West Sweden and Municipality of Svenljunga (SWE) together with North Denmark EU-office (DK), which, through the assistance of the seed money facility, co-operate with Municipality of Rehna (DE), EU-office for Landkreis Osterholz (DE), Municipality of Tamsalu (EE), EUCC Baltic office (LIT), University College of Borås (SE), Cities on Internet Association (POL), and Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences (FIN). The partnership in the i-COIN project represents disadvantaged regions; committed to innovation and excellence and to maximizing the value of public sector assets in achieving economic and social cohesion. The main activities in the project was Knowledge sharing for the overall theme of e-government services Development of transnational e-government/e-services solution Awareness raising and dissemination e-government/e-services pilot application implementation Evaluation of the e-government/e-services solution. The partners should have jointly developed and delivered a concrete product in form of a user-driven e-government/e-service platform internally evaluated in a 2-phase process through the cooperation of local/regional partnerships of competent partners. The results were expected to be a piloted e-gov./e-service solution, transfer of knowledge, experience and best practices, redeveloping the concept of ICT between regions, improved rural services, policies & practices through design and delivery of effective participatory knowledge sharing around various themes/sectors. Learning how ICT services can support efforts to regenerate regional economies and local communities; identifying models of development making sense in the context of differing circumstances across the project; generating ‘know-how’ for spin-off development for disadvantaged and rural areas that supports partner regions to promote and adapt into the information/knowledge society.

4


Now in December 2007, two years after the project was approved and a lot of activities among all partners have been performed we can se the results. We all are satisfied with the result we got. The main results for the project is compiled in three different documents: The i-COIN project, the story, (This document) where all partners have reported what the i-COIN project have meant for them and their outcomes. The Toolkit, dived to three volumes, a guideline describing how to set up a project for install a complete platform (including software) for e-services and the surrounding processes you need. Build on the experience from the i-COIN project The Final report where the i-COIN project is evaluated. All documents (and software) of importance, regarding the i-COIN project, can be downloaded from the official i-COIN web site www.i-coin.net At the web site you also find contact information to all partners if you want to get in touch with a partner or the lead partner. Christian Bonfré Project leader

Municipality of Svenljunga, Sweden Lead Partner Tel +46 325 1800

5

http://www.i-coin.net/

http://intranet/images/18.6220e89a115d0b58cef80003187/LOGO_fg.tif








The municipality of Svenljunga Sweden Lead partner Documentation for the i-COIN project in the municipality of Svenljunga, Sweden Background The municipality of Svenljunga is the lead partner in the i-COIN project. The thoughts for the project started in a bus in Brussels when the leading public servants and the leading politicians for the municipality were there for a visit to learn more about the European Union, the work, the aim and how the Union can help small municipalities in rural parts, like Svenljunga, to continue to exist and to grow. The idea then came from a discussion about the importance to help the citizens to get a more flexible way in the contact with authorities by for example using e-services and the problem for the citizens that do not have skills to use computers or to use the e-services, which not always are so easy to use. “This must be a problem for all authorities which is developing e-services”. -This was in April 2003. To get the idea approved by the politicians in the municipality, gain approval by the civil servants and at last by the joint secretariat, took nearly 3 year. In December 2005 the municipality got the phone call that said, “Congratulation, the application for the i-COIN project is approved!”. Work procedure The basic idea for the whole project and the first aim was to see everything from the users point of view, from the citizen’s point of view. The second aim was that information for the citizens was stored in old IT-systems, which wasn’t prepared for the Internet and for web-services. Is it possible to develop a platform, which could publish old systems databases in a secure way in to the Internet, and could the platform work in different environments in different countries? The third aim was to make sure all citizens have the opportunity to use the new technique. For coordinating the project we had to set up the coordination office, organize documents, templates and stuff that helped the partners to start up the project at their places. We had the start-up meeting in Svenljunga in March 2006. It was two days of discussions about the coordination, the timetable, the project and about the i-COIN platform, -what should this platform be? To set up the local project in Svenljunga was not so easy as expected. The internal organisation in the municipality had problems to see the benefit for them in the work with the project despite the work we had done in the pre-work. Fortunately during the project time more and more units in the municipality started to work in the aim of the i-COIN project.

6


The user panel groups To detect target groups to interview was not a problem. In a small municipality everyone knows everyone and ideas for target groups were huge and we had to decide which groups we should set our focus to. The selected groups were: Civil servants employed by the municipality, refugees, unemployed young people, SME’s, the parish, politicians and pensioners. To find and to contact the people we wanted involved in the user panel groups we had to use the local networks we got.

Phase 1 During springtime 2006 we started up the work with interviews. The university college of Borås was involved in the interviews and they collected all the data for later compilation and analyses. The first group we interviewed was all the directors and heads in the municipal internal organisation. The discussion was made in two parts. First part was from the view of the organisation. The second part was from the view when they were of duty, and they become a citizen. The argument they had as a civil servant didn’t always answer up to them self when they got them as a citizen. There are different needs when they are in different roles. As a citizen the need to get face-to-face contact wasn’t so important. It was just important to have the opportunity for face-to-face contact, not actually need to have it as they thought as a civil servant. The most important was that they could leave a message or ask for action/task/function and that the errand came to right person. Some of the civil servants doubted the need for e-services (and also showed a little bit of fear). If the e-services was completely built-in in the municipality,” -What should happen to the organisation?. Highlights from other user panel groups were that the youth group who is born and raised with computers, they didn’t see that the contact with authorities should be by Internet, “we go down to the city hall if we want something”. The refugee group was split, the gap in competence and skills in using computer and Internet was in the wide of not-being-aware-of-what Internet is to daily-use of the services that are offered in the net. The SME’s didn’t want to use the e-services, but they thought that the municipality should be better to put information regarding different kind of permissions and forms to the web and then it would be nice if they could e-mail or send the forms directly.... Other groups we had were an elder panel group, a politician group and a group representing people from the different parish in the municipality. The common agreement in the groups was that it’s important that the citizens are involved in the process developing e-services or in developing the municipal web-site but they didn’t have much time to get involved and they didn’t really know what the need is but it’s good if we could fulfil all coming needs! The most important issue is updated, easy to find Information about everything concerning the municipality.

Phase 2 After the installation of terminals in different small villages in the rural parts of the municipality and when we succeed to adapt the developed i-COIN platform, the middleware between the municipal web site and the databases, we once again collected feedback from the users, by the user panelgroups. This time in phase 2 when we got something to show, to put hands on: the terminals and the published municipal diary we got other reactions/demands

7


than from phase 1. One reflection concerning the demands: regarding the i-COIN project and the phase 2 evaluation and demands for develop the technique, is that when you talk to users they cant see or do not know what’s depending on technique (the portal/server/platform/web) and the information (text/ the content) it self. So often the discussion was about layout and how to find information (the structure). This reflection was confirmed among all partners in every country. The demands we in Svenljunga got was: 1. -more terminals. 2. -possibility to print from the terminals. 3.-more access to Internet. 4.-possibility to login to the municipality to get access to role-based information, to see in what status their errands are, who is responsible and where in the process it is. The published diary was criticized because the information was not understandable. The information the civil servants use to write in the database was only for internal use, not for a person who wasn’t familiar in the matter. This experience has made affect to the writing in the diary. We had to take the diary offline and the civil servants have begun to write in an understandable way. We are planning to open up the diary again later this year. Unfortunately the time limit in the project didn’t last for putting the role based login technique online before ending the project.

Basic conditions The focus in the pilot project in Svenljunga was accessibility. Minimize the gap between people who have computer skills and access to Internet for getting topical information and the people who haven’t skills or possibility for using computers and to let citizens have access to internal IT-systems containing public information, -in an easy way. This are basic matters in (e-) democracy.

The municipality of Svenljunga have a lot of basic structural problems. The municipality is situated in a rural part in a wealthy region in Sweden. We are not seen from the Region

8


centre because of our smallness in inhabitants and from central part of Sweden we are not seen because we are in the wealthy Region. The size in the municipality is from north to south 70 km and from west to east 35 km. There are 10.500 inhabitants living here in a lot of small villages. The regional centre in the municipality is Svenljunga and got 3.500 habitants. The municipality have operative units all over the municipality such as schools and elder care. Some IT-systems the municipality is using are old and are not made for publish on Internet or is using web technology. That’s why we have chosen the diary in our tests to adapt system by the developed i-COIN platform.

Solutions and results The results citizens actually have seen during the project are: We have placed out terminals in small villages at the countryside. From start 6 terminals without print possibility, which are, after demands from user panel groups, now 10 terminals most with print possibilities.

We had the diary online. It turned out to be difficult to understand the meaning in the showed cases, so we had to take it offline. We will take it online again when we have changed the way of writing. This is one of the results we got from the user panel groups.

9


In discussion with the user panel groups it appeared to be difficulties to sort out pure municipal information and to find forms in different shapes and e-services. Therefore we created a web page at the municipal web site where we collected all forms and e-services as a “service centre”.

Problems There have been a few problems, both local problems in the Svenljunga pilot project and in the i-COIN project concerning the partners and to hold together the entire project during the

10


time when there were full activities in the project. Most of the local problems were concerning delays among suppliers difficulties in purchases and internal organisation problems. For the project, the lateness to get the Subsidy Contract from the BSR Interreg secretariat caused problems for some partners. They couldn’t start up their local project. Among others the Finnish partner who had an important role, to develop the common i-COIN platform couldn’t start up their work. The late start in Finland caused some serious lateness, which made it very stressed in the end of the project. Another problem that showed up just before the first summer was that the local partnership for the Danish partner didn’t work out with the result that nobody could put together the first joint questionnaires and no one could coordinate the work package 1, which should be the base for the demands for the platform. We as lead partner had to find quick solutions so the slow start didn’t totally make a halt. We had to take over the responsibility for coordinating WP 1 and find resources for working in the project. Disrespect from keeping deadlines and not deliver agreed material among partners have made the role for lead partner sometimes rather tough, but always at the end everything have fall to the right places (sometimes at the absolute last second). Highlights To work in a EU-financed project in a matter like what we have done, developing e-Services has been a real good experience. Not only in the way where we jointly work together cross borders, the knowledge sharing has also been a real good way of working. Thoughts and solutions from the partners have given more value to the project. If you are working locally in a matter and do not get influence from others, you often get easily blind. In the i-COIN project we all have got a lot of experience and knowledge from each other. All partners have made their share in the project and the result is much better than we as a lead partner had expected from start. Every project meeting, every workshop, every milestone report have been a real highlight. The meeting which gave most value to us as lead partner and to the project and which was a real success was the meeting and the mid term event in Zakopane, Poland. The output from the panel debate among the politicians representing our partners showed that project like the i-COIN project is of most importance. The network among the partners has worked real well. The experience about how the people in the different country talk, think and then act depending our same or different culture/background have been the absolute best experience for us working in the coordinating task. Durability For the municipality of Svenljunga the i-COIN project has been a success in the view from the way of work, the outcomes and the good experience to be a lead partner. The department for environment and build have change their way of working in their department after being involved in the i-COIN project. They saw the importance to work together with their target group as we did when we asked the citizens for their opinions in the surveys. The department for environment and build mirrored the way and involved the SME’s in their survey with a result that have been a real turnover; from have been the most criticised department in the municipality to be one of the most service oriented department, thanks to the i-COIN project. The terminals will stay and the municipality will take the responsibility for them. Probably there will be more of them, because of the appreciations from the citizens. The installed i-

11


COIN platform will stay and more databases will be adapted so the citizen gets more municipal information directly from the internal IT-systems. The role-based login as we got demands for, will be tested, realised and further developed during this year. All the surveys that have been carried out will be in the base for the new municipal strategy for IT and e-Services that we now must update depending the results i-COIN project. The network among the partners will stay. All partners are satisfied in the jointly work and the outcomes from the i-COIN project. There is a wish and a demand for a sequel to the i-COIN project. There are some ideas how to use the developed platform and the outcomes in other ways together with other challenges for the future. We have been asked to be lead partner once again and to set up and lead the i-COIN II-project from the i-COIN network. In this matter, we already have started up the process! Other To be a lead partner and to work in an international project in the size like the i-COIN project has been a real good experience. Of course it has been ups and downs but with the support from the partners, from our internal organisation and the help we got from the Joint Secretariat in Rostock, no problems have been left unsolved. The 2-year journey is now ended. The time has past real quickly and left a lot of good memories. On the behalf of the Municipality of Svenljunga we want to thank all participators who have helped or been involved in and made the i-COIN project to be a success. Thank you! Christian Bonfré Christina Andersson Jonas Widerström Project Leader Financial Manager WP3-Project leader

12


North Denmark EU-office Documentation for the I-COIN project in the municipality of Aalborg in Denmark Background The present globalization of various industries brings small and medium sized companies (SMEs) closer and emphasizes the need for state-of-the-art digital communication between enterprises and public commercial support organizations Business communication is increasingly transferred to the Internet. Especially large enterprises demand that communication with business partners are performed electronically However, many SMEs need external assistance to develop digital communication tools and skills. That goes for business communication and for the exchange of technical data related to production

Work procedure In order to set up new standards of e-services, we established a user panel identifying the actual needs of the target group, namely SMEs. The user panel groups

The user panel represented actors from the public as well as the private sector:

Aalborg Municipality, including North Denmark EU-Office Aalborg Commercial Council Aalborg Chamber of Commerce The Business and Technical College EUC Nord 2 private companies

Basic conditions In Denmark, SME’s are faced with increasing competition on the global market. They are faced with the constraint to identify foreign trade partners, foreign sub-suppliers. Either because they otherwise would face outsourcing or closure or because the companies buying their products are pressuring the price so low that they need to find foreign sub-suppliers in stead of producing the product themselves. Furthermore, when a buyer in a company is looking for sub-suppliers, 80 % of the sub-suppliers are found via searching the internet. This means that for SMEs to continue to keep their market share, they need to be visible on the

13


web and they need to be able to handle e-commerce. If not, they face loss of market shares and, in the end, closure. The user panel groups made a comprehensive action plan comprising of the following main activities:

• Identify at least 20 private companies that will be ready to participate in this pilot project (around 30 was found) • Preparing a questionnaire for the companies • Interviews • Preparing new information flow system (new e-service) • Creation of a pilot e-platform • Testing phase • Implementing phase • Adjustment phase • Evaluation

Solutions and results Based on the information gathered during the user group interviews in WP4, we have initiated the production of the Danish pilot platform www.sme-services.eu The platform is a web based SME e-service/e-contact knowledge sharing platform (e-platform) intended to homogenize and focus the information flow to SMEs in North Denmark as well as strengthen the communication among the SMEs. The platform is a one-stop user-centric information service that enables participatory dialogue with service users and regional government emphasising issues pertaining to EU, EU projects and prospective transnational collaborations

14


Problems When we started up the i-COIN project, we lost our local partner who should have made our pilot project concerning improved environmental information and services. Their for we had to lock for another focus in our pilot. This gave also the result that we had to give up the responsible and coordination for Work Package 1 Highlights The collaboration between ‘techies’ and moderators of the site and the continuous dialogue between the two teams have proven to be very rewarding. In that everyone is more or less experienced moderating the site and knows about the technical and practical aspects, the minor adjustments that have been necessary following the launch have been easy to carry out. As such, the close working relationship between the development team and the EU-office must be said to be an ideal working relationship About the partner meetings: As is always the case, the results of the various partner meetings have been very positive. Not only are we given a chance to catch up on the partners’ latest activities in regards to the project, we have also gained some very good friends over the course of the project, strengthening our network to nations of the Baltic Region. Durability We will maintain the dialogue with the user group in order for us to establish the platform as a superior site for SMEs to obtain relevant information on their particular industry. Subsequently, we will encourage new members to get in touch with us if they have comments or suggestions regarding the site and invite new SME’s in the region to use the site. Today we have following members Stig B Norsk Head of Office North Denmark EU-office

15


"CITIES ON INTERNET" ASSOCIATION – Stowarzyszenie miasta w Internecie Documentation for the I-COIN project in Klembow, Mazowieckie province, Poland Background

Cities on Internet" Association [COI] is an organisation created in 1997, gathering Polish experts in the area of eGovernment, working in local and regional administrations as well as in companies of the ICT industry.

The core mission of the organisation is to support public administration, both central and local, in the process of their transformation toward modern eGovernment solutions by the means of planning, realisation and promotion of work for local and regional e-development, introducing e-services and creation of knowledge society, also in a way of development of public information resources.

As the main objectives of its work COI considers:

• participation in creation and promotion of information society and knowledge based economy in Poland

• consultancy for local authorities and companies of the ICT industry in applying for European funding programs meant to realize projects that enable to transform Polish public administration towards modern eGovernment solutions and to deliver via Internet common public services

• dissemination of information about eGovernment, new ICT solutions - practical and technical, linked to public administration management

• proposing and supporting actions in the ICT area • carrying out international projects • organising conferences, seminaries and workshops • cooperation with national and international organizations with similar objectives

We considered iCOIN project as a great possibility to implement ICT solution that would improve public services quality and accessibility. We wanted Klembow municipality to be a pioneer in implementing cost effective ICT solutions optimised for small rural municipalities. ICOIN project was considered to be a rare occasion to gain new innovative technologies and utilize international experience of our partners in small rural municipality. We hoped that our knowledge regarding technological and administrative issues will be valuable for the consortium. The iCOIN formula was coherent with our company mission, consequently we have decided to join the consortium.

16


Our main objective was to produce an Educational Portal that would improve communication between following groups: • pupils • parents • teachers • civil servants The solution was intended to rationalise knowledge sharing process and legal documents flow process. Work procedure Works were conducted in repetitive manner. It was the only way to bypass the deadlock that project members had to face: e-services requirements influenced the platform shape while lack of knowledge about platform possibilities had slowed the requirements gathering process. After the iCOIN platform architecture publication the works were intensified. The Polish Pilot implementation was a prove of that iCOIN platform can be an effective tool for providing e-services.

The repetitive methodology of creating solution production was used since it enforced citizens input and enabled us to constantly control if the solution fulfils the user requirements regarding functions and quality. During project Partners have succeeded in defining united international list of demands related to eGov and eServices. The repetitive process of gathering requirements, generalisation, platform planning, pilot solution planning, and platform and pilot solution implementation was conducted several times. The user panel groups Since planed iCOIN solution was beyond state of the art in Poland the functional analysis was the most important task. Also lack of good examples made the success indication definition problematic. The final scope of the Polish Pilot was to create a simple to use, versatile and secure system that would: • Enable easy and secure access to education related information • Become effective tool of knowledge sharing in education domain • Enable real improvement of teacher – parents and teacher – student communication • Enable municipality range students community creation

Phase 1 The group consisted of school representatives, local authority representatives, and citizens of Klembow municipality. Since the awareness of IT technologies and possible profits technology can produce. COI representatives were forced to define the wide list of possible functionalities and ask for a comments. The presentations of knowledge sharing technologies were presented. The list of accepted functionalities was gathered. On the basis of that list the prototype of Klembow Educational was created.

Phase 2 The prototype was published to Klembow citizens and school representatives and local authority representatives. The portal prototype

17


was considered as encouraging. Some functionalities were eliminated since it was proved that are not useful. The legal requirements forced us to resign from official documents flow functionality. The changes were implemented and portal is now in it’s mature shape. Portal is graded positively and will be used as an official and constantly supported educational solution.

Basic conditions The solutions had to be web based, it had to be extendable and modular. Solution must me interoperable and must be able to use and publish its services via web services technology. It must not have high hardware requirements and must be easy and cheap to implement. The planned effect of creation electronic system assisting in education process was a passage from traditional model of reporting of school in accordance with town council of Klembow for electronic model which will enable schools transferring information by e-mail [fulfilling of electronic forms, fragmentary automatic through information collected direct from proper databases Main systems that were planned to be implemented:

• information showing “education way” of a student/pupil • financial information related with planning and realization of budget of

individual educational outpost, • information related with human resources involved/engaged to creation of

system of education in Klembow municipality • A supplementary functionality that could by successfully implemented into

System of Education Management is to create application that could enable register pupils/students to all educational outposts situated in Klembow municipality.

Expected benefits: Due to creating electronic System of Education Management, it will be possible to make analyses, statements, juxtaposition and reports. All above-mentioned actions will be based on results of basic data processing from individual sources of information. Solutions and results We have achieved a ready to use polish language IT solution assisting the educational process. It is based on open source technologies consequently it can be distributed out of charge. The value of solution is defined by its functionalities, usability and documentation. The ICOIN platform is well documented the COI contribution to its documentation was a extensive tutorial defining software environment that enable full featured utilization of ICOIN platform functionalities. During the next semester the solution will be used as regular education tool. In other words our solution have passed the most important test user acceptance. The solution has been given the following shape, modularity of solution is clearly visible.

18


The solution enables integration of various data base systems, above the virtual library is presented. It can be used as an integrated interface to many school libraries (it’s possible to connect all school libraries in municipality- the only problem might be legacy systems closed architecture)

19


The easy to use school documents repository was also provided. Pupils and teachers can also cooperate within publicly visible projects. The project management is much more effective due to portal functionality provided.

Educational Portal is also effective tool of building communities., not only within schools but also municipality range pupil communities can be created. Problems The project has faced the objective obstacles; the pilots requirements occurred to differ strongly form each other. It caused platform definition problematic. Lack of platform definition has slowed down requirements gathering process since asked Pilot representatives were not aware of platform possibilities and its available functionalities. The other problem was related to Polish law. Some legal acts make IT solutions impossible to implement since paper based document exchange is obligatory that makes IT implementation useless. The awareness of IT technologies in rural areas is still low, also the internet penetration is still low. The side effect of iCOIN was a raise of IT awareness in Klembow municipality.

20


Highlights The project from COI perspective had several turning points. The first turning point was initial definition o Polish Pilot user requirements and receiving acceptance of if. On the basis of all pilot requirements the iCOIN platform was defined. Second turning point was discovery of a method of iCOIN platform utilisation in a effective way. Third turning point of the solution development process was a prototype creation. It enabled us to clearly communicate with citizens of Klembow regarding educational portal because we could show what they could expect. That enabled them to make their requirements more precise and realistic. That requirements after analysis became a source of next turning point: a mature solution implementation. The response of citizens was positive but the documentation that would enable effective diffusion of that solution. The iCOIN toolkit (ICOIN solution + documentation) creation was the last but not the least project turning point and achievement. Durability The educational portal of this kind is a unique solution in country-wide perspective. It is considered to have a perspective to gain popularity. We have been informed about the fact that neighbourhood municipalities are interested in implementing that kind of solution. The new way of sharing knowledge was provided to teachers, pupils and parents.

• The community building within whole municipality (not only the school perspective) is expected.

• Final version of iCOIN solution for Polish pilot was developed and is expected to gain popularity.,

• Final version of iCOIN solution for Polish pilot was implemented and is available at http://83.175.186.156:778/joomlaPE/ the hosting is expected to be continued at least till 2015.

• Technical specification and description of iCOIN toolkit was developed. It’s expected that good documentation will enable effective solution propagation.

Other The iCOIN solution is based on open source technologies. Consequently it can be redistributed out of charge. The implementation cost reduction maximizes the chance of multiple implementations in future. The solution is easy to modify and can be immediately and cost effectively adapted to growing or changing requirements. CITIES ON INTERNET ASSOCIATION Arkadiusz Zlotnicki (Project leader) Artur Krawczyk (Project manager) Jakub Staniewicz (IT Specialist)

21

http://83.175.186.156:778/joomlaPE/


Amt Rehna Municipality of Rehna

Municipality of Rehna Documentation for the i-COIN project in Municipality of Rehna ( Local authority of Rehna, City of Rehna )

(adress: Freiheitsplatz 1, 19217 Rehna, Germany) located in the rule district of Nordwestmecklenburg, Germany Background At the beginning of the i-COIN project and even before, the question came up, how this project can be useful. In general the I-COIN project deals with a subject area that is currently widespread all over Europe: e-Government. Especially for the public sector there is a focus in attention for prospective action. Consequently was and is this subject area interesting also for Municipality of Rehna as part of the puplic sector. So it was relevant what can be done in support of an electronic administration (e-Government) in the region of the Municipality of Rehna. As the project term ”i-COIN > interregional, communication and information network” says, it is about communication and information. More precisely it is about communication with citizens and other groups and the information of and by citizens or other groups in dialogue with the public administration. Modern IT (information technology) plays an important role here. That was the link where it seemed to be reasonable for the Municipality of Rehna to participate in this project, since the topic is in focus for constant improvements anyway. Because of the fact, that the project proceeded in an european context, it was possible to deepen the ”European Idea.” The partners had the possibility to look how the other, european neighbours handle their things, where we maybe get new impulses. Work procedure When the project started in 2006, the first step was to find out what is needed and wanted by the users of such an e-Service. We knew and know that there are different fields inside the e-Government topic possible to realize. That means that theoretically all administration workflow and processes can be realized as an e-Service to finally make the communication and information much more easy. Considering this Municipality of Rehna had to manage the project. So the Municipality of Rehna tried from the very first to point out possible audience and to divide them in several user groups / users. (User Panel Groups)

22


The user panel groups

er groups, user panel groups / user (involved groups)

- employees of Municipality (+ politicians, members of the boards) departements in administration

repare th ct partners created a joint questionnaire. Municipality of Rehna has delivered its part to this

and knowledge from other networks r contacts, like “e-Government Modellregion Westmecklenburg” to indicate

r the questionnaire have been at least four groups.

itizens

Low participation, because of no time, or no interest. Younger people own a with Internet connection more often than older ones. These people

is less interactive communication

Phase 1

ifferent usD

- citizens

- technical- e-Government development (NGOs – Non Government Organisations)

To p e dialogue with the different groups all proje

questionnaire whereas the focus laid on concerns that were / are interesting for the Municipality of Rehna. Though there have been points that are interesting for all partners. As the basis for discussions in the user panels Municipality of Rehna decided to use existing structures. So Municipality of Rehna took experiences ofunctional aspects considered relevant for the utilisation of the platform of services. Therefore Municipality of Rehna built an own user panel group were has been discussed and analysed: what are the future arrangements that have to be done that are related to the overall topic of e-Government / e-Services ? As a result it turned out that the needs and demands for all groups are quit similar - as incomplex as possible, easy to use e-Services with the possibility towork fast. Important fo

c

Computerprobably would use such offered e-Services, also when the personal contact to a human being is very important to many of them. Because the single citizen on average has to do with authorities quit seldom, there is not so much need to offer every administrative service as an e-Government service. Additional it is a fact that in contrast to Sweden or Finland for example, in the Municipality of Rehna we have not such wide spread areas with low population density. Instead the Municipality of Rehna is a small administrative unit and reachable easily for everyone. Prior meaning of the Internet for the citizens at the moment is to get information. So there

23


employees of municipalities

ost of the asked employees in municipalities / authorities see the chance to implify their work. They think it might be possible that e-Services could raise

e does not really get in touch with these new

omparable. It is typical to have 2-3 servers were the different tems are very wide

it. The implementation is mostly in test stages especially

rts of the registrations service.

analysis of possible e-Services ( specification of e-Services )

with real estate

(members of boards) - more ideas

>

>

Msthe effectiveness of their work.

Dispensable problems that are not concerning the main topic would leave out. But most of the employees have few or no experiences with e-Government services. The normal employeideas. It is still not really implemented in the structures of municipalities / authorities.

technical departements of municipalities / authorities The technological standard in municipalities with similar sizes to Municipality of Rehna is csoftware programs are running. Also the operating sysspread and there are no big differences. The Internet access connection in most of the municipalities / authorities is a broadband DSL connection. In the Municipality of Rehna there is no Internet connection at every workplace, although it is technically possible. An Internet presence is standard almost everywhere. Here the focus lays on offering information, like contact data and interesting news.

e-Government development e-Government is quit advanced in Germany concerning the developments and discussions aboutwhen it comes to the direct contadifferent IT-Systems that are

ct from citizen to authority. Because of the used all over the region and whole Germany it is

difficult to work cross platform, although there seems to be not the problem from the technical point of view.

Main focus also is in solutions from government to government, that means services that are running inside the structures of authorities, where no citizen has direct contact, for example pa A very important criterion all over this phase has been intense knowledge sharing with external experts ( regional partnership) : - - partly dialogue with users of e-Services - finally filtering of the results: ideas for e-Services

> G.I.S. application ( The original idea, to eventually connect thisservice, was not possible. )

> Info service for politicians / officials( that could not have b reeen alized because of different reasons )

registration service housing allowance >

> day-care centre ent systems (as an application) > document managem

W-LAN

24


fter the development of the pilot platform by other project partners, it had to be plemented and the developed or to be developed pilot application (e-Service)

ad to be installed and implemented into the whole system.

ere the Municipality of Rehna felt back on the help of external experts as well.

2. phase the developed e-Service should be analysed and improved with the dback by the user panels / users. The implementation of the pilot s completed successfully and the feedback of the development

roup as well as the technical department of Municipality of Rehna show that is can be a useful instrument. It is possible to connect any application or data

tions will be provided to the users. To give feedback is possible all the time.

ok at point: results ) The wareness from the feedback and comments are used to improve and adapt

implemented in the infrastructure of the IT –

users / user panels the result will be improved and revised consequently.

Aimh H Phase 2 Inhelp of feeplatform wagthbank easily and fast and so to expand the offer of e-Services. This point has not been finished during the last phase of the project. The feedbacks come concentrated between the development groups, employees and technical department of the municipality. Citizens participate limited on a feedback at the moment. This fact will change when the applications are implemented completely at the end of the project. Also having in mind the durability, this is important. The user panels / users will ( or do ) finally participate on the demonstrations respectively usages. Here the applicaa(E-mail, technical analysis and so on). ( please loathe system.

At the end stands the pilot platform system of Municipality of Rehna connected with the developed e-Services. By the extension of details and the elimination of problems that emerge by the feedback of

Of vital importance in this phase were / are the results of the questionnaire, the conclusions from the discussions and consultations and the use and knowledge sharing of and with external experts that has been practised very intense.

25


asic conditions

institution the Municipality of Rehna had to act on different basic conditions.

the developed pilot platform had to be implemented as a partial result in the existing

- data security ( for example concerning data bank content )

clarified the limits of the possible actions in the project.

the IT infrastructure inside the local authority and at the specific user panels / users.

differences in demografic specifications of the project partners.

example the area

- thematic

B

As a public

-

system of Municipality of Rehna

- german legislation concerning:

- copyrights ( of software structures for example )

- administrative regulations

-

-

So the area of Municipality of Rehna is much less dimensioned than for

of the Finnisch or Swedish partners. The population density plays an important role as one

big difference.

i-COIN as a part of the „Bürgerbüro“ ( frontoffice: general contact point for every

concern, place for the citizens to get information, quasi concentration of all administrative

services at 1 point ) > communication and information !

26


Solutions and results

ill the end of the project there has been made a lot of intense knowledgesharing and work pilot applications that are interesting for communication and

Municipality of Rehna. Therefore has been used the apacity and know how of external experts.

i-COIN pilot platform

eveloped and documented by the finish / ploish project partners - installed and implemented by external experts

liaments, commission, mayors )

d minutes for / of meetings - Intranet registration (Log In) for approval of inofficial content

- G.I.S. (ge

ic maps and additional information,

latform

out e-Government, respectively demands in the region. By us o deepen the knowledge and the level of awareness about methodical processes in project managment and especially on the e-Government sector.

4.

not very sensible and has been canceled as a planned activity.

5.

Tto find ideas for specific

formation with and for citizens ofinc overall results: 1. implementation of the common - d - feedback to the platform documentation 2. pilot application

I – Info Service for members of boards ( par

- Invitations an

By using the i-COIN platform

II ographical information service )

- application, provision of specif

- request, connection to i-COIN p

3. Extension of knowledge abing external know how it was possible t

Improvement of the IT - infrastructure in Municipality of Rehna as well as Content-Managment-System (CMS). Originally also in W-LAN should be made some advancements . This turned out to be

Change of experiences and learning from european partners, especially during the participation at the project meetings, that have been organized by the project partners.

27


Municipality Website, exemplary picture

Info-service for members of the boards, mayors - invitation and minutes meetings - Intranet registration (Log In) for approval of inofficial

content by using the i-COIN platform

I -

Website user ( - panel ) Intranet ( content ) mayor invitations

member of board

member of board

LOG IN minutes

information

28


II - G.I.S. (geographical information service )

- application, provision of specific maps and additional

information, - request, connection to i-COIN platform

Maps website, exemplary picture

Website

users user panels

G.I.S.

maps additional information search

29


Problems

unicipality of Rehna had to manage different problems and adapt its own operation method nal solution that is part of the project proposal. The e-Government topic is very andle for each of the partners. E-Government problems are still a big topic and

ven after the i-COIN project Municipality of Rehna has things to do on this field. All of the

Rea a ojects has come to the limits fast at this points. E-

overnment is also more centralized in Germany and can not be seen separately. Firs a e pilot platform looks like and how it works (after

evelopment of the specific partners) Municipality of Rehna could start with the development

or

ighlights

intense work to find solutions on the e-Government sector

results at the end of the project

in addition to the project itself

eside knowledge that Municipality of Rehna has obtained about e-Government, project anagement and the general work in such projects, as a result remains the improved IT –

Mainly this is achieved by the pilot platform with the pilot applications.

onstantly.

Mto find the fi

ifferent to h

departners had different basic conditions to implement e-Services. So it maybe was / is the big challange to find the community there.

- data security - administration regulations

- Copyright

liz tion of e-Government prG

t fter clearance about how thdand implementation of the pilot applications. Inasmuch there was a temporal shortage. However this shortage could be compensated extensively. The implementation of the pilot platform software proceeded unexpected diffecult. Without external experts with the accordant knowledge it is not possible to implement......as far as one want to see this as a problem. In general sometimes the time was quit limited to for example keep the deadlines fsubtasks in the project. As an organization we often to work at the limit for this project. H -

presentable - - change of experience with European project partners , also Durability Bminfrastructure. By development and implementation of the pilot applications there is ensured a sustainable benefit for the time when the project is completed. Both services are available for the accordant user group. How comprehensive these offers will be or are used, is on a watch c

30


The applications have been developed after determining what is possible to realize in the framework of the project. According to this there is the potential, that the pilot applications will be used after completion of the project too. Especially for citizens this result displays an advantage that they will use fur sure.

s from the progression of the project resulted a delayed development of the platform, there

re quasi is always space for multiple usages. ith redevelopment respectively new acquisitions, the results of the project can be

- G.I.S. application, provision of maps with detailed information of the specific area.

as ll

---- -hristian Klüßendorf (Project manager) unicipality of Rehna

Awill be watched how they are used and accepted and if needed adapted to the conditions after completion of the project. This will be done step by step according to the specific needs. A feedback from the users is possible all the time and will be approved actively. With the possible usages of the applications and the communication of them, on the one hand there is ensured the information of and by the user groups and on the other hand the communication with the specific user groups about the platform and applications. This means a durable effect in sense of the i-COIN project. The developed, revised platform offers potentials for modifications independent from the applications. By the cooperation with external experts there is the possibility to implement additional services in the future. Through the characteristic of the platform, to be connected easily to further applications or data banks, theWexpanded and adapted constantly. So here also in the long term is the chance for the created applications to have a durable value in the course of certain, natural development processes. Finally first of all there are the pilot applications as running, durable results:

- Information service with authentication because there is offered non official content.

we as:

- Experiences from the work at this project ( development on e-Government sector).

---- ---------------------------------------------------

CM

31


EUCC Baltic Office Documentation for the I-COIN project in Lithuania Background EUCC Baltic Office is the leading non-governmental institution caring for the

transnational information exchange on various ICZM-related issues in the BSR. The added value provided to the i-COIN project includes cross-border information exchange. WP5 leader contributing with academic and technical experience in the continuous evaluation, benefit from local/regional partnership and user dialogue.

Work procedure Nationally: User panel survey, stocktaking of the national database for the online case studies (~.travel portals), development of two different online case studies, dissemination and interactive work with end users and stake holders in all counties and more than 70 municipalities of Lithuania. Internationally: coordinating, facilitating and promoting the transnational efforts in evaluation of social acceptability and technical benchmarking of project outputs, as well as overall progress of project activities. The user panel groups The setup of the user panel groups in Lithuania involved the stakeholders from the peripheric municipalities of Lithuania. The work involved frequent visits, anonymous interviews and focus groups with relevant target groups in all 10 counties of Lithuania Phase 1. Users at the national level have been identified and selected to take part in the user panel dialogue. The users’ panels in Lithuania consisted of citizens, SMEs, public administration, NGOs and the civil society. A jointly agreed questionnaire was the basis for the discussions in the users’ panels. During the interviews the users indicated functional aspects considered relevant for the utilisation of the public internet services. In Lithuania the particular interest was in separating tourism information from municipal public services and utilities. The compilation of user’s request was structured into a joint description detailing common patterns and areas. The results have analysed in relation to the overall topic of e-gov/e-services with particular interest in Lithuania on environment, culture & tourism. Phase 2. The final users have actively participated in the demonstration events giving, afterwards, its impressions and comments to be used to improve the system. Conclusions report of the users’ panel have been summarized in the national user panel report. Overall, the relevant tangible results in Lithuania included 200 information visits to periphery municipalities of Lithuania, 400 anonymous semi-structured interviews in 7 counties of Lithuania, 18 dissemination events in all 10 counties of Lithuania, 1 National final i-COIN meeting, 96 days of individual interactive training of the end-users and stake-holders. Basic conditions: EUCC Baltic Office staff has participated actively in the process of setting basic conditions of the common platform for the project pilots.

32


Solutions and results: as WP5 leader EUCC Baltic Office coordinated and conducted a transnational evaluation of the achieved results of the overall project, both, in terms of social acceptability and technical benchmarking of the produced products. As a result, social acceptability report, technical benchmarking instrument and technical benchmarking report have been produced. As a project partner, it has actively participated in all project events. It has also disseminated actively the project outputs and made them visible in all 10 counties of Lithuania and on the national decision-making level. EUCC Baltic Office also contributed to the project activities by stocktaking of the national database for the online project case studies (~.travel portals) in Lithuania. As a result, two online case studies (for Rambynas regional park and for Plunge rayon municipality) have been produced, tested and approbated. Overall the tangible outputs of the i-COIN project in Lithuania included: 1 national user panel survey in Lithuania, 1 nation-wide resource database for the online case studies in Lithuania, 2 online case studies, 6 visits to government institutions, 1 article in a national newspaper, 1 radio broadcast, 1 social acceptability report, 1 technical benchmarking instrument and 1 technical benchmarking report. Problems: It proved to be rather difficult to transfer the transnational verification platform

developed by i-COIN to the Lithuanian online case studies Highlights Excellent coordination and a rather smooth flow of the project Durability Lithuanian partnership and online case studies will be maintained on after the

project ends. Other Lithuanian user panel groups are looking forward for i-COIN II Dr. Ramūnas Povilanskas EUCC Baltic Office Director Klaipėda, January 8, 2008

33


“Tamsalu Municipality” Documentation for the I-COIN project in Estonia Tamsalu town Tamsalu municipality West-Viru county Estonia Background Tamsalu Municipality gave the participation agreement before the application deadline. After the positive answer from JTS the municipality decided to not participate in the project. After the long discussions we finally decided to participate. After the answer the coordinator has been hired and project activities started. The project coordinator organized the meetings for the project team and explained the objectives. The team worked out also them objectives, which are:

• Adaptation of specified e-gov/e-service solution – new website. • Better service possibilities for citizens and other interested parties. • Better informed citizens and other interested parties. • Exchange of experiences.

Now, we are very happy, that we have i-COIN project, because the new website is the best way for offering the public services for local people in e-way, which is new for us. The process helps to increase e-democracy in the municipality. Work procedure We created the local Steering Group for the project activities in the earliest beginning of the project (the first months) and explain to them the project aim and activities and make the plan for whole project time. Steering Group consisted of the members of the Council, the members of the Board, civil servants, local authorities and entrepreneurs. We invited to the group as much experts and politicians as it possible. The 100% participation in every SG meeting is not possible, because someone cannot come. But it is necessary to discuss about project activities and send the memos to all SG members. If there are some persons, who would like to participate in SG, we gave them this possibility, because they are very good experts for the project. We added new member to SG all the time. The first e-Services have developed by demand from the municipality personnel. Tamsalu municipality bough the hardware for municipality hall and other municipal organisations and developed the first e-services for organising the contemporary and effective leadership inside the municipality as the organisation. Beside the Steering Group we created the working group, which consisted of 3 members:

Leading, information collecting - Katrin Tirman (coordinator with the contract). Researches, list, structure of the website – Katrin Uudeküll (with the contract). Webmaster – Erkki Lepp (with the contract) – worked out the system (his own, new!),

developed the website like we want. 34


The coordinator and project team leaded the project activities:

• The first research of user panel groups. We continue with the research of e-services development system among municipal personnel, politicians, local authorities and citizens. The deeper research is more effective for municipal work.

• The project team has filled the database of the needs of target groups. It is quite interesting that the most of the list (included all target groups) members are very active in researching process and they are interested in developing e-service system in municipality.

• During the research we interviewed all target groups members, including Vajangu School, Kindergarden, Youth Center and Library, local authorities like Tamsalu Kommunaal LA ja Tamsalu RMK, Sääse Social Center, Tamsalu Cultural Center and Sports Complex, Assamalla Library, Porkuni Limestone Museum etc.

• During the last period we also completed the existing list with new members and made the evaluation among list members. Most of the members though that the information exchanging is much better now, because they have all information about the trainings, seminars, events, competitions etc via e-mail personally.

• The seminars for target groups has done. The objectives of the seminars were to inform target groups about the researches and new possibilities as much as it done and found out their opinions about the developing e-service system in municipality.

• The project team has come together many times for discussing i-COIN activities. • Intensive work with new website of Tamsalu Municipality. • Our webmaster started with working out different kind of solutions for the website and

e-services, programming etc. Before or website was done in Mambo, which is very bad example. Now they use their own program and it works good.

• The design for the website. Our working group argued about it a long. Horisontal menu vs vertical menu etc.

• Collecting the totally new data and pictures for each subjects. Putting together the application forms for the website, as it will be e-service.

• Intensive communication with every working group member. The user panel groups We set up the user panel groups after the first research, which gave us the answer, who really need the e-services solution.

Phase 1 I Citizens Tamsalu municipality started to develop e-Services by demand from the citizens: Tamsalu information list, webpage; e-Services for better information changing process between citizens and municipality personnel, libraries, schools and other municipal organisations. We have comprehensive e-Service offering on the state level – it is e-Government (in Estonian – e-riik), which can use everyone, who has computer and internet connection. Citizens are aware of the possibilities on Tamsalu webpage. The know less about information list, but it is used by members 15-17% of all citizens. The information list is very effective and works well. All of our citizens, from the age 5th to the age 50th, can use computer (off cause with small differences of skills). Elder citizens, who haven’t the need to use the computer, haven’t these skills. Usually in Tamsalu municipality the senior citizens look for possibilities to learn use the computer by themselves.

35


National e-Services, like banks, e-riik etc, are available for all people. Using of these depends on existing of computer, internet connection and citizens’ interest on it and their level of education. The most of the citizens have internet connection at their home. There were some citizens, who don’t need the internet connection and who hasn’t possibility for it. Some citizens have wireless network at their home and they were mostly citizens living in Tallinn. Citizens use internet at home and in the office every day. The most of the citizens visit the municipality hall once per 3 month or once a year. The homepage is the one of the most important information channels. The citizens find the information sometimes or all the time from the municipality’s homepage. The citizens suggest developing the next e-services in Tamsalu:

• The quick and adequate answers to the questions; • The plans and schedules for the department and local authorities; • The active databases; • The possibility to fill and send the application via internet; • The possibility to speak with the social workers via internet; • The possibility to register to the appointment to the headman and other public

servants; • The possibility to ask the questions from the headman and other public servants; • The possibility to send documents with the digital signature; • The active news folder on the website, where the citizens can add the information; • The questionnaires; • The forum.

II Civil servants The civil servants use computer and internet every day. The civil servants answer to the citizens’ question by e-mail 2-3 times per week and by phone 2-3 times per day. The next drawing characterizes how many percents of the civil servants and how often answers to the questions in the office, by phone and by e-mail. Civil servants think that the internet should not to be the only way of communication with the citizens. The information transferred once or more times per week to the newspaper and homepage. For the easiest work, the civil servants need the next e-services:

• The projects of the decisions; • Plans; • Application forms; • The electronic newspaper; • The profession-manuals of the public servants; • The event calendar; • The information about the environment; • The information for the entrepreneurs.

E-services are very new approach for our citizens to create more effective information changing between municipality leaders, personnel and citizens. It means that we need more and more trainings and seminars to inform people about the new approaches. We have to use more practical trainings with the examples for the citizens. Younger generation are very aware about e-Services and use these very actively. But the senior citizens have the problems with it. The other user panel groups:

The members of the board and council. 36


Local and foreign people. Enterprises. Nongovernmental organisations. Teachers. Parents. Children and youth.

Phase 2

We have tested the new solutions and the most of all user panel groups are satisfied. In the future we would like to have more information about the needs from all user panel groups. During the project time we always called the users to participate in our seminars. The participation of users was very high all the time, including the demonstration event about the new e-service system in our website. It means that the users were actively participated in the demonstration events giving, afterwards, its impressions and comments to be used to improve the system. User panels (local people, civil servant, the members of the board and council, teachers and the leaders of municipal organisations, for enterprises and for nongovernmental organisations) are better informed now. Basic conditions Tamsalu is unfortunately not the pilot. But we have our own basic conditions: the computers, Internet connection, existing website, knowledge etc. Solutions and results Experiences:

We have learned a lot of experiences from different EU countries in IT sector. We had very good ideas for our activities inside and outside the project from the

meetings, memos and partners' presentations. Tamsalu Municipality's personnel and also the project manager had very good

experiences in project management, management of payments and reporting system in Interred IIIB project. Compose the research of user panel groups and fill the database of the needs of

target groups. Analyze and develop the website of Tamsalu Municipality. List-making process. Learn from the partners.

Cooperation:

2 years is enough time for build up the cooperation between partners. Very important benefit is the new and very good contacts in different i-COIN

countries, who hopely will be our partners in the future. All of these contacts quarantee the sustanability of the i-COIN project. We have very good cooperation with local project team – meetings and event

together. Cooperation between politicians – very impressive for the politician was meeting in

Zakopane. Meetings:

We had so many interesting trainings, seminars and conferences during whole project time. All project meetings were very fruitful and gave us very good ideas for the present

and future. Steering and Management Group meetings gave us very good overview of project

management and using budget efficiently. SG meeting gave us possibility to 37


communicate with all partners and discuss about the project management in their counties.

Researches:

We have made very active work in preparation of our new website with e-services: Compose the research of user panel groups and fill the database of the needs of

target groups. Analyze and develop the website of Tamsalu Municipality. The research of the needs and assignments to the civil servants. Answering the questionnaires, which have been sent by partners.

The remarkable outputs:

The new website of Tamsalu municipality with the e-service possibilities. In i-COIN Tamsalu municipality started to develop e-services by demand from the citizens. e-Services for better information changing process between citizens and municipality. The information list, which includes e-mail addresses of citizens and connected

peole. They received all information about different activities periodically to their mailbox.

E-services: The application for getting: municipality’s supports, building and detail planning

permissions, land documents, permission for connecting with water and wastewater system etc. Forums, questions and answers, problems. The new idea is to use the stripe code system for cultural and sports event in

Pandivere cooperation area. We have to buy the software and hardware for that, give out the stripe codes to every citizen, put the stripe code readers in the ski paths, sports complexes, cultural houses etc. That way it will be easy to organise the events and also collect the statistical information. E-services are very new in our region. The young citizens use different kind of e-services (applications of the funds, e-

bank, e-energy, e-taxes etc). But we have big amount of the oldest people and they usually use traditional way

to get something. Everyone (40%) still hasn’t a computer and Internet connection at home. Everyone has’nt internet connection. Wireless Area is only in municipality hall and

Cultural House. In the future it takes time, when local people start to use the e-services of

Tamsalu municipality. The training for civil servants (local working group) – how to use: change and add

the new information to the website. Not every civil servant have time for homepage. The webmaster maybe continue

his work in municipality (the contract might be prolonged). Easy administration New elements:

• Disain • E-Services • Easy to find the information • Easy to administrate • 3 languages • Horisonthal menu • Good structure • Lot of information about different topics and spheres 38


Problems Problems in e-service development:

• Quite new approach for us and it tooks a lot of time and we are done a lot of researches.

• It was not easy to explain to citizens and also civil servants e-service possibilities, because it’s new for them.

• A lot of discussions inside our Steering Group. • The most of citizens hasn’t internet and computer at their home. • The citizens can always talk about their needs about e-services, but we don’t know,

will they use these e-services, what we are developing now, in the future. • There could be some problems with civil servants in e-service offering process. • People, who use only internet and e-Services, will not communicate with each other

eye-by-eye. • Computer dependence can be among children and youth (especially if we talk about

computer games). • Possibility that some user can use the new approaches for crime or to decelerate the

development of democracy process. Problems in management:

• Tamsalu municipality had too high amount of travel costs and low amount of needed costs (personnel and meetings). Also, we couldn’t use external experts.

• No any common project meetings in Tamsalu. Problems in auditing process:

• Delaying (the reason is, that the auditor is from the ministry. The ministry has 3 auditors, who audit all Estonian partners. It takes 2-3 months.

Highlights

Good cooperation. Interesting people. Nice sites in partners countries. Interesting development of IT-sector in partners countries. The biggest highlight for us was the day, when our website was finally ready and

located in www.tamsalu.ee. Common final meeting in Sveljunga. Common final event with users in Tamsalu.

Durability We are opened for new innovative ideas for develop our cooperation and make some new projects together in the future. ---- Katrin Tirman (Project Manager) Municipality of Tamsalu

39

http://www.tamsalu.ee/


Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences Documentation for the I-COIN project in Kotka, Kymenlaakso Finland. Background We heard about i-Coin project firs time from Kouvola Region Expertise Centre

(Kouvolan seudun osaamiskeskus), from whom we received e-mail on September 2006. Other Finnish partner had just back away from the project which opened an opportunity to join it, even so in very quick timetable.

Our organisation found the subject interesting and something that could well fit

to our needs in the area. Our objective was built up something (new services) that could be helpfully to the city and to citizens. To make e-services more known among the citizens and help municipality to provide usefully e-services to its citizens, ease some simple tasks that can be provided also in form as e-service.

Work procedure After we had the funding and attendant partners (Kymenlaakso health care

authority, city of Kotka, several SMEs), we had to make next procedures - To find project leader and afterwards rest of the project team. In the end five

regular employees and some temporary employees worked on the project - Study of targets: Finding out the need of the area, which services have

demands, what would be the best target to develop. To find this out several interviews and negotiations were held with different authors.

Viewing the targets and clarifying where we want to go. Agreement of what will be developed.

- Planning the platform: what is needed to cover every partners and our needs, who will implement the platform, who can answer to our needs most comprehensive. Finding out partner organisations, who will work with the platform; ICT Solution provider Propentus Ltd. and Nitro FX.

- Finding out the needs: Carry out a questioning for citizens and find out their needs. Finding out the needs of the authors and clarify that those will meet out targets. Sort out what services will help the area most and what services can bring most added value. Result: area had demand for e-services that could ease some processes and bring cost-benefit advantages.

- Implementation of the platform and marketing: Platform was built by ICT solution provider Propentus Ltd. from Kouvola. Platform was built by demands of the partners. Several press releases of the upcoming platform were published in regional newspapers (Kymen Sanomat, Ankkuri etc.) and when the platform was in use, more press releases were published. Also some other marketing tactics were carrying out during the project.

- Installation: platform was installed to city of Kotkas’ server by Propentus Ltd. City of Kotka is acting as administrator of the software and taking care of the development and improvements.

40


The user panel groups User panel groups were held in Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences.

Users were invited to join the panels by sending the invitation. Some new people came along with those who had received the invitation, which made the group more versatile and interesting.

The course of the panels was planned beforehand.

Phase 1 Regional user panel groups were held, where pilot was showed and demonstrated to the future users. People from different ages, business fields and knowledge of e-services attended the user panel groups. After the demonstration proposals of improvements were discussed in workshops. Software was developed by the proposals and feedback that came out in the panels. Also several transnational demonstration events were held during the project.

Phase 2 Feedback was collected from the panels and use to improve the platform. Feedback gave some new prospective to observe the software and made it more suitable for everyone to use it. Later feedback of the pilot was collected from those citizens, who had used the pilot by their own. To collect the feedback, questionnaire were maid by the regional project team. Mostly the feedback was good and users found the service usefully. But there also were some proposals to improve the software, and by those the software was revised and improved.

Basic conditions Technically the platform was built by ICT solution provider Propentus

Ltd. Technical criteria’s came from the needs of the users and participating partners. Platform is built on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based solutions. Propentus could be called as a pioneer in the development and implementation of SOA based solutions.

Instruction manual was written by Propentus, where partners can have

instructions how to install the platform. Company maid two different instructions: technical and non-technical. All the i-Coin partners were able to get both of these.

Target was that pilot should be functionally easy to use, so average citizens

could use it without problems. In this criterion it managed well. The installation has to be made by professional IT-specialist, who can read the installation instructions. In Finland all this went well without any problems.

The pilot software could contain more information then it does at the moment,

but this matter will be taking care of later by the administrator, who can expand the service.

Solutions and results The pilot is in use and working in the city of Kotka’s portal. User

statistics has been collected sins the start up of the pilot. After the launching press conference was held which brought lots of publicity

and new users for the software. Also other marketing shapes were carrying out during the project.

41


Project included two created services: real estate database and laboratory booking system.

Real estate database: The layout of the portal is now good. It is simply to go

there and find the way to the service. The layout is matched to be similar with rest of the municipality pages. Service is available at: http://palvelut.kotka.fi.

Next print screen is from the pilot software. Picture is from a start page to the software.

Some extra services will be added to the service to improve it, but that will

happen afterwards by the municipality administrator. The municipality will work with the service and develop it more.

On account of the project Kotka municipality haves more ways to serve citizens and new ways to attract business and support them. Laboratory booking system: Other service created during the project was

laboratory booking system. This software is not using i-Coin platform, but the health care authority had being cooperated with i-Coin project. One part of the project was to make comprehensive clarification of the needs in the area, and one result was that healthcare could take advantage of new e-services. For this reason laboratory booking system was developed. Service can be found from the pages: Next picture is a screen shot of the laboratory booking service.

42


A through study and plan on how to carry on with the development of e-Health

care have being done. The service will be developed further. In all the project was important steps in the e-Health development

One important output is a toolbox for helping authorities to setup new e-

Services. Project also produced new products and services for SMEs to market. Learning and experiencing a ”bottom-up” approach to citizens’ needs and

requirements for e-Government/e-Services. Problems There were some problems while setting the special characteristics of the pilot. Lack of communication and different thoughts of interfaces between organisations created some problems, but most of those were solvable afterwards. Also the fact of who is responsible of what caused some discussions. There also were some delays in time schedule, but in the end the start up delayed only few weeks from the plan. Highlights One highlight was when other partners (first Denmark) installed the platform successfully to its own use and were able to take benefit from the platform. Other highlight moment was when regional project team successfully gathered information of cost savings and reported the final results. The report contains detailed information about the financial savings, benefits and capacity of the software. That information will be very usefully when planning new features or totally new services. 43


Durability After closing down the project the platform will keep working. It will be maintained by the municipality, who will develop and improve it. In the future new services will be developed alongside of the pilot and the service already existing will be further developed. Pilot was just a starting shot for a bigger service combination. New projects, concentrating to similar subject, will come under planning. Experience, network and know-how will be utilized. Other Good experience and know-how will help us carry on working with EU programs and funds in the future. Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences Juhani Talvela (Project leader) Kati Raikunen (Project Assistant)

44


ProArbeit/Landkeis Osterholz Documentation for the I-COIN project in Landkreis Osterholz (Germany)

Background Use of the Web is spreading rapidly into most areas of society and daily life. In many countries, the Web is increasingly used for government information and services, education and training, commerce, workplace interaction, civic participation, health care, entertainment, and a lot more. In some cases, the Web is replacing traditional resources. Therefore, it is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. In Germany governmental institutions are committed to develop their websites with a barrier free (handicapped accessible) webdesign - adapted to the rules of the W3C and the German law (BITV). Further on also the websites of the municipalities shall become barrier free. Local administrators who are usually responsible for the websites of their community are simply overstrained with the design of accessible websites because webdesign is just a secondary task. It lacks time dealing with such a complex issue. The municipality of Osterholz and the ProArbeit identified this as a problem. This went along with the upcoming redesign of the ProArbeit Website. The ProArbeit website should become a sort of role model. The previous website of ProArbeit ran with an old software which was neither user friendly nor barrier free. But there was a second problem. By considering other websites of the county of Osterholz most of them were neither user friendly nor barrier free. Not at last the result was a very low attendance. The usability and accessibility seemed to be the main problems. Both of them are not only similar, they also have a common intersection. Optimized websites can run on multiple devices e.g. Web TV and Palm Pilots they can be used on multiple operating systems like Windows, MacOS and Linux derivates. They can be accessed through different browsers Netscape and Explorer and are working on old as well as new web browsers. This also results in considerably extending access and reducing barriers to disabled Internet users who will be accessing the World Wide Web through a range of special devices such as speech synthesisers and Braille readers.

With the help of technical support by the partners and financial support from the EU under the ICOIN project, the municipality of Osterholz was able to face the problems and to design adequate solutions. The problem turned into a challenge.

45


Work procedure

Identification of the issue absence of barriers with regard to the German BITV Approach to the topic accessibility and usability Identifying of different subjects - legal, technical and demographic aspects of accessibility

and usability Understanding of the relationship between absence of barriers and usability discussion with the different activity groups (local stakeholders, citizens, IT-Administrators

of the communities and mayors) Development of the absence of barriers and usability guide as the theoretical foundation of

how to understand and implement absence of barriers Translation of the guide into English Evaluating existing web pages with regard to absence of barriers and usability Explore technical solutions for barrier free web design Testing different content management systems in terms of their ability to display accessible

websites Redesign of the ProArbeit Website by using the content management system typo3 and the

CSS Framework YAML Test the website Evaluation of the usability and accessibility guide with a Questionnaire Press conference – introducing the new ProArbeit portal

The user panel groups The groups were identified after bilateral discussions with political stakeholders and local actors in the field of government or technology. Especially the identification of multiplicators or already existing workgroup was important to concentrate on a broad background of the doing.

Phase 1 We worked together with the following groups during the whole project lifetime: 1. IT-Administrators

There was an already existing a workgroup of the IT Administrators of the whole county which means 7 communities and the county administration. This workgroup evaluated the technical quality of the platform and the possibilities for the implementation for the use in German governmental organization. For the preparation of the development of the new portal, special taskforce as output of this workgroup was created.

2. The political decision makers group The mayors and the county governor have a 4 weekly closed meeting. This meeting was often used for the work on the regional portal and the identification of a strategy for the county of Osterholz focusing on e-government

3. Broadband – Executive committee The broadband executive committee is a workgroup of different decision makers of the administration. They are working in different fields of the public administration and should therefore coordinate the impacts of interdisciplinary e-services. This workgroup should focus on the internal implementation on process not a technical level.

4. Citizens

46


With bilateral discussions with multiplicators and in the workshops of the broadband days 2006 and the T-City process the possibility was used to get citizens directly involved. This was important to get faced with these issues without stereotypes.

Phase 2 We have different kinds of feedbacks. Emotional, technical and practical feedbacks were given. The main points are: 1. A good idea, but a too complex system for the integration in a small county 2. A lot of possibilities without any use, but interesting for people with open source

knowledge. 3. The difference between the developer’s countries and Germany is to big

especially in legal issues, we don’t know if we’re allowed to use it. 4. The effect of the platform is great – it makes all this login processes easy

(because nobody can remember so much passwords and it is a bridge concerning this personal ID thing)

5. Interesting that so many countries have the same problems

Basic conditions Here is a short description of the technical approach to create a barrier free website for ProArbeit: The previous web pages in our portfolio were created with the Open Source Content Management System typo3. Because of the many vantages of typo3 it should be retained if possible. For this reason it first had to be checked whether a barrier free design is possible with the CMS typo3. To find the best solution however, different content management systems were tested. For monetary reasons only CMS’s on the basis of Open Source Software have been tested. Besides of the costs there is another good reason to use an open source CMS. If it is necessary the source code can be customized to reach the goal. There are a lot more Open Source advantages: All advantages of Open Source are a result of its openness. Having the code makes it easy to resolve problems which mean that you don't have to rely on only one vendor for fixing potential problems. This is very important to understand everything that follows. Competition is what drives innovation and Open Source keeps competition alive. As none has any unfair advantages, everybody has the possibility to add value and provide services. Information wants to be free.

Open Source software means Open Standards, thus it is easy to adapt software to work closely with other Open Source software and even closed protocols and proprietary applications. This solves vendor lock-in situations which ties your hands and knees to one and only one vendor if you choose one's products.

It is widely known that security by obscurity is not a secure practice in the long run. By opening the code and by wide adoption of Open Source software, it grows more secure. Generally, new Open Source projects tend to be insecure, but once a project matures and becomes production-ready, it is more reliable and more secure than most available commercial software.

Quality - Not only does software evolve onto a stable product, a large user base also supplies new

47


possibilities, making it a feature-rich solution. More new features, less bugsand a broader (testing) audience (peer-review) are significant to the quality of a product. CMSs Among addiction: Typo3 (http://www.typo3.com) Joomla (http://www.joomla.com) Drupal (http://www.drupal.com) Word Press (http://www.wordpress.com) Some other smaller systems due to the small scale function are not usable. The CMS has to fulfil the following conditions:

1. First of all it must generate barrier free web pages (W3C compliant).

2. The design of barrier free sites must be based on self designed templates.

3. menu options, the construction of an optimized page that allows Usability

4. Definable features in the WYSIWYG editor for the authors to ensure sustained accessibility.

5. User-specific logins that permit or disallow the editing of individual areas of the site.

6. Integration of the CSS Frameworks YAML to ensure cross-browser compatibility.

7. Extensive functionality to generate RSS content The result was quite positive. All tested systems are able to generate accessible websites. The feature to create especially configured editor functions is only offered by the CMS typo3. With the Script Language TYPOSCRIPT special functions in the editor can be switched off. Without this option the result would be that the site is no longer W3C compliant. Design functions which should be in the CSS-file and not in the HTML-source code can also be switched off. Due to these facts we came to the conclusion that typo3 is perfectly suited and extensions to the issue of accessible sites are available. Some more typo3 advantages

• open source software & minimum license costs and management

• can be used for different types of websites, from e-commerce sites to information sites

• TYPO3 is highly customizable, expandable and modularized: there are at present 1033 extensions available added to the several basic ones

• It is stable and secure - there are more than 122.000 servers with TYPO3 and the community of developers steadily on work.

• it is the ideal solution to the advanced management of website as it allows a refined log in or users and administrators of the website

• graphics and content separated management for a more effective updating of enterprise communication through the website

• Updating of web contents can be made also by IT beginners.

48


For more information on CMS Typo3 please visit: Website: http://www.typo3.com (Commercial Site) And http://www.typo3.org (Developer Website) Originally website accessibility needed to be considered from two different perspectives. On one hand the content management system must be able to generate accessible websites, on the other hand the CMS itself must be accessible and manageable for handicapped editors for example. The latter is not given by any CMS at current stage of development. This is an area of significant need for development. During our research the YAML Framework from Dirk Jesse was found. It contains a CSS and XHTML template which is well-suited as a basis for our development. Various browser bugs are already fixed and the different solutions are already implemented. In addition, the Framework is completely W3C compliant which is an important aspect of website accessibility. Here you can find further information about the YAML Framework: Original YAML framework website: http://www.yaml.de (only available in German language) YAML for typo3 Website: http://www.yaml.t3net.de (only available in German language) We came across that the CSS framework provides an ideal basement for the development of accessible websites. But the framework still provides more. In addition to good browser compatibility it is also very flexible in the construction of the pages. It offers not only a static XHTML template but also scalable template. This allows building websites with flexible layout options depending on the special needs of a single page. This also is an entitlement of usability. Designing the layout flexible, gives the ability to act flexible with the content. If the content demands it, the structure can be switched for example between a 1-, 2- or 3-column-layout. Additional to that it can be defined whether the width of the layout shall be static or flexible.

Solutions and results Access to the theme accessibility was harder than we initially thought. We had to recognize that accessibility affects many issues and that there is no standardized definition of website accessibility and usability you can follow. In the end website accessibility always is project-oriented. So there is no standard solution merely guidelines. In the accessibility and usability guide we tried to explain these problems and to describe the various subject areas in a substantive context. Website accessibility is a legal term that includes specific rules how an accessible website should be structured. Furthermore it is a technical term which is associated to accessible design techniques. When designing the website of the ProArbeit in accordance with the guidelines for accessibility and usability, it was quite difficult to leave the traditional website structure behind and to switch to a structure purely based on the design principles of user-friendliness.

49


Problems

The project in whole showed the difficulties in preparing a good regional portal. Especially the discussion with decision makers, citizens and IT administrators were quiet useful to identify the core element of a usable internet portal. The integration of the platform developed in the i-coin project was a problem in our county. First of all the difference between the developer’s countries and Germany is to big especially in legal issues, we don’t know if we’re allowed to use it. After a workgroup session, the local task group discussed the usability influences and the possibility of connecting the transnational database developed in this project. Because of the complex content converting it was not possible to link all services to a new internet portal. By preparing the usability and accessibility guide the missing general definition of website accessibility was identified as one problem. The second problem was that there were no cross-country or uniform EU rules on accessibility. The implementation of website accessibility is a matter of the country which results in a multiplicity of different rules, guidelines and laws. Because the guide should be a general one, the described rules and guidelines are general and more a kind of accessibility basement. The German version of the guide differs from the English version. In the German version specific elements of the German regulations (BITV) are described. However in the English version many of them cannot to be found. Instead in the English version a directive of accessible web design from the United States is described. The problems peak was to design a website accessible checklist. The checklist should enable Web administrators to review their own website by criteria of accessibility. This result in a checklist which is only based on common and general accessibility rules. A problem that can easily be overseen when you think about website accessibility is the language. The language should be universally comprehensible, even for people without higher education. Foreign words or abbreviations in the text should be marked with an appropriate statement. Nested sentences and complicated language should be avoided.

Example how to explain an abbreviation

50


It was a problem to find a solution for the different browser bugs. The various browsers display websites in a different way, partly based on errors. Accessibility and usability should also include solutions for these problems, so that all users have the same website and all contents are well displayed. The integration of the CSS Framework YAML solved the problem. Several errors have been repaired by this. YAML allowed big-time savings.

Highlights First of all, the great cooperation and atmosphere between the project partners was a highlight. Also the accessibility and usability guide was a great success. The feedback, concerning the accessibility and usability guide was a highlight of the project. Many people are interested in the Guide and found the content useful. Further Highlights were the completion of the ProArbeit website, and the discovery of solutions for various technical problems.

Durability The dissemination with the theme Accessibility starts a general understanding and awareness progress of the issue, not only among web administrators of the council, even with the editors and also managers in web projects. There was a general awareness of the issue accessibility, the knowledge about the problems of disabled people in the use and interaction with websites are now available for many people in the municipality. The guide provides the basement that this effect will persist in future Web projects. A website optimised for accessibility will not only benefit your organisation, it will benefit everyone. EU-office for Landkreis Osterholz Ullrich Mueller (Project leader)

51


University College of Borås Documentation for the I-COIN project in Borås, Västra Götalands regionen, Sweden Background The background for the participation of the University College of Borås in the i-COIN project was a contact between the Municipality of Svenljunga and the School of Education. The School of Education has several researchers that are trained and skilled in the area of use of information technology. Additional meetings led to an active involvement in the project. The objectives for the participation were to serve the needs of the Municipality of Svenljunga and to learn from taking active part in a transnational project concerning a relevant issue for the department and in addition an excellent arena for staff members professional development. The University College of Borås also has a main task to improve the relationship between practice and science. The i-COIN project has been excellent experiences in order to further develop concepts and methods. Work procedure The work carried out includes a pilot questionnaire, user panels, video recorded user panel, audio recorded user panels, data collected from the user-panels, report and PowerPoint presentations for the transnational seminars, suggestions and revisions for the development of the platform including analysis, report on potential and studied users, briefing paper, contribution to newsletters and knowledge raising within the transnational context as well as regarding collecting data for using to develop platforms. The user panel groups The University College is used to carry out activities such as interviews and user panels. The groups have been set up in close cooperation with the lead partner and in relation to specific groups of both the Municipality of Svenljunga as well as for the University College. The objectives were to include as much information as possible that would be relevant for the development of instruments and the platform.

Phase 1 In the initial phase questionnaires and user panels were used to construct the transnational version of the questionnaire. These questionnaires were based on earlier research and state of the art research about the use of information technology. 52


Phase 2 The analysis of the users’ feedback has been given a lot of attention in the project. Three researchers from the University College of Borås have been analysing, discussing and writing reports on the feedback from the users. In addition, observation studies, seminars and workshops have added quality to the rigorous analysis.

Basic conditions The University College of Borås has been especially active in assisting the Finnish partner in preparation for the first pilot. The role has been as that of someone to discuss ideas and development with in relation to the application and the results of the user panel groups as well as findings from research. Solutions and results Main concrete outputs from the project include the combined results from the user-panels, questionnaires as well as the output from the seminars resulting in the specification and suggestions for the platform. The platform and the knowledge sharing and awareness raising among the partners have been important steps towards better quality in citizens e-services. The project has also contributed to develop scientific papers that can further the work and make implementation more accurate in future use of these kinds of platforms. Problems No major problems have been accounted for regarding the participation of the University College of Borås. However, the University College of Borås had planned for more participation in the project than what turned out to be possible. Key persons in the project group were successful also in other areas and therefore it took some time to get new members into the group. Highlights The project contributes to the development of a shared and mutual expertise between the partners. This expertise benefits from the particular conditions and possibilities that each partner contributes to the project. The combined efforts from the partners are bigger than what each partner would self be able to achieve. The transnational meetings have been real highlights that will be remembered by the participants and also already have lead to more projects and contacts among the partners. Durability As have been mentioned earlier, the relationships that have formed during the project will undoubtedly lead to more cooperation and more integration within the project areas. The reports and experiences from the project will add on to both knowledge and experience among professionals in relevant fields. Ulric Björck (Project leader) Bertil Rolandsson (Senior lecturer, Ph.d.) Fredrik Zimmerman (Lecturer in sociology) University College of Borås

53


This is i-COIN The project started in February 2006 and ended in December 2007 A lot of outputs from the project are today integrated in the daily work for civil servants in local authorities and support the citizens and the SME’s in their communication with the authorities around the Baltic Sea.

Authority or typical_eu-city

www.typical_eu-city.eu

?! ? ! Other authorities

i-COIN toolkit

How to

introduce i-COIN E-

services? platform

i-COIN main focus: Citizens

?

54


Main outcomes in the i-COIN project

• The toolkit: How to introduce e-services • The platform: The software for adapting databases to Internet • The Pilots: In Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Finland • The Evaluation: Final report • A Report: Citizens and Civil Servants Framing E-services

Those documents and more are downloadable at www.i-coin.net For more information please contact: Christian Bonfré Head of IT/Project leader i-COIN project Municipality of Svenljunga, Sweden Phone number: +46 325 18000 e-mail: [email protected]

The i-COIN project - Svenljunga · 2013-10-23 · The . i-COIN Project . Project part-financed by...

Documents

Transcript of The i-COIN project - Svenljunga · 2013-10-23 · The . i-COIN Project . Project part-financed by...