Utilisation of ICT in public administration

Development of public services

The ministerial group of the Information Society Programme highlighted the development of service production by using ICT as a central priority of the Programme. This concerns both electronic services as well as development of traditional service provision and increasing productivity.

Development of public services requires new operating processes and ICT is an essential aid in this. Development of service production and putting services on an electronic basis lead to the re-examination of internal processes, organisations and conventions used in service production and stress the importance of cooperation. In a changing operating environment development and promotion of electronic service centre operations are emphasised.

Particular attention will be given to electronic services for citizens and on making them as customer-friendly, easy-to-use and secure as possible. In accordance with the Language Act, the services will be in both national languages. This will enable the services to be provided to citizens and other actors regardless of time and place, which will help to promote social and regional equality and make public administration more transparent. There is already a wide range of electronic services available to businesses, but more services will be introduced and the integration and contents of the existing services will be improved.

As there will be increasing reliance on electronic services, the boundaries between the services provided by the Government and local authorities, and regional, national and, in the long run, EU-level services will become more and more blurred and lose importance.

The Government will cooperate with local authorities to ensure the enhancement of services, the supply of electronic services and their validity, quality and smooth functioning. Existing operators are utilized, such as the Advisory Committee on Information Management in Public Administration (JUHTA), and projects such as ValtIT and KuntaIT. The role of public administration recommendations (JHS recommendations) will assume greater importance in a changing operating environment.

A preliminary study will be carried out and the implementation phase will be launched on the basis of the development programme on customer-oriented electronic services. These are described in the state administration IT strategy prepared in conformance with the TIME working group’s guidelines. Key projects include electronic identification of citizens and companies and a uniform basis for electronic services.

• Implementation of the proposals of the KuntaTIME working group (Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Prime Minister’s Office)
  

• Further KuntaTIME project on the educational sector (Ministry of Education, Ministry of the Interior/KuntaIT, Prime Minister’s Office)
  

• Implementation and coordination of an application for funding targeted to Tekes and the public administration of the Information Society Programme (Ministry of Trade and Industry, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Finance)
  

• Development of joint public administration services as outlined in the Paras projects (Ministry of the Interior, Prime Minister’s Office)
  

• Project for the strengthening of joint services (Ministry of the Interior)
  

• Development of Government content production as defined by the SILAVA project (Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister’s Office)
  

• Development of the JHS recommendations system (Ministry of the Interior/JUHTA, Ministry of Finance)
  

• Further measures of the TEHO-TIVI project on the basis of a rapporteur’s proposal (Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Interior/JUHTA)
  

• Further measures of the project for online public services (JUPA) (Ministry of the Interior)
  

• Development of Government internet reporting (Netra projects) (Ministry of Finance/State Treasury)
  

• Coordination of state administration processes and information contents begins as part of the definition of the state IT architecture (Ministry of Finance)
  

• Inter-sectoral cooperation to promote the use of basic registers intensifies between the register pool and state administration information management (Ministry of Finance)
  

• Implementation of the Ministry of the Interior’s Online project (Ministry of the Interior)
  

• Putting the services for conscripts on an electronic basis (Ministry of Defence)
  

• Developing the electronic legal process and customer service (Ministry of Justice)
  

• Developing electronic employment services (Ministry of Labour)
  

• Developing an election information service (Civil Participation Policy Programme) (Ministry of Justice)
  

• Enabling taxation-related business to be carried out electronically (Ministry of Finance)
  

• Putting services of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA) on an electronic basis
  

• Developing the usability and joint usage of basic registries and promoting cooperation between register controllers (Ministry of the Interior/Register Pool)
  

• Further development of the Suomi.fi portal as a joint service channel for public administration and making it better known (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Interior/KuntaIT)
  

• Developing the EnterpriseFinland.fi portal into a source of interactive services (Ministry of Trade and Industry)
  

• Gradual development of a joint national information portal for all libraries (Ministry of Education)
  

• Turning the library for visually impaired into a digital library. Paralleled with the implementation of the DAISY audio book system and Internet Service Strategy (Ministry of Education)
  

• Survey regarding free access to searches in national fee-based library databases (Ministry of Education)
  

• Promoting the use of digital and video technology in trials (Ministry of Justice)

• Updating Finland’s visa system and linking it to the Schengen visa system (Ministry for Foreign Affairs)
  

• Implementation of the data system for the mobility of personnel project (Ministry of Finance)