Smart City: Doing Away With Red Tape From Within

Background Information

Can a local organisation in a medium-sized city achieve total resource maximisation and the professionalization of all of its members?

The proposed initiative consisted in the studying and redesigning of City Council administrative procedures is in order to reduce the citizens' administrative burden and make cost savings in the provision of public services, guaranteeing Quality Public Administration.

Procedure: Set of formal procedures to which public action is subject.

Procedure Family: Procedures with a common structure.

Electronic Administrative Procedure: produced by a programmed system without the need for the intervention of a physical person.

Phase A - Current Organisation Procedures Were Studied In Order To Streamline And Lay Down Family Grouping Criteria:

Performance term: three months as of the making available of the information.

This phase was documented in the dossier entitled: “Catálogo de procedimientos administrativos” (Administrative Procedure Catalogue).

Phase B - Drawing Up Of A Family Processing Manual:

Purpose: To standardise all procedures and control work routines, standardising tasks, facilitating auditing work, the assignment of responsibilities, training new employees and facilitating in the drafting of User Guides.

Performance term: one month as of termination of Phase A.

This phase was documented in the dossier entitled: “Manual De TramitacióN Por Familias Y Guia OrientacióN Del Usuario” (Processing by family manual and User Guide).

Phase C- Procedures Manual For Electronic Administration:

Purpose: Choosing 60 model procedures for electronic processing.

Results: Assessment and monitoring indicators, activity times, work loads.

Performance term: three months as of the termination of the previous Phase.

This phase was documented in the dossier entitled: “Manual de procedimientos de tramitación electrónica” (Electronic Processing Procedures Manual).

People Involved: The Entire administrative organisation both technical, managerial or elected representatives of the City of Avilés.

Problem/Challenge, digital gap, Post refreshing, bureaucratising of skills, excessive legality of public service operation and its administrative processing.

Parties and Partners to the Initiative and Resources Used for Implementation

Involvement Of The Entire AviléS City Council Organisation.

Key To Success: 560 public employees; 25 elected officials; 16 municipal offices.

The resources used for implementing the initiative include:

Purpose: To achieve electronic processing procedures without the manual intervention of the users. 

Resources’ lines:

•The entire organisation staff.

•Initial public financing for its implementation.

Innovation for the Initiative

This initiative is evolutionary, though it differs from other initiatives for the following reasons:

•It is real, and has been put into practice. We are not dealing here with the inspiring principles of an action. These are not intentions, but rather facts.

•It involves all intervening stakeholders: politicians and employees.

a)Key Concepts: Complete processing of the electronic file from the outset to its resolution; Doing away with hard copy; Use of a management application integrated with other databases, Interchange of information with other Administrations; Electronic signature, electronic access; Forwarding of administrative files electronically to other Administrations.

b)Risk: Motivation, resistance to change, legal security.

Innovation has been applied in:

Political Goal: Across of entire municipal organisation.

Strategic Goal: To improve management times.

Cost Reduction: Maximisation of resources used.

Sustainable Development: Doing away with paper use.

Technology: Basic time and cost saving tool: performance indicators.

Administration: Swift management of procedures.

Financing: Municipal. Financing assigned to the phases developed and to the procurement of technology that was used to put the initiative into operation.

Performance: Involved the entire organisation.

Obstacles and Solutions for Innovation

The main problem is resistance to change.

Nevertheless, the most complicated part of the job was done after detecting the main hindrance during the analysis phase of the situation of the organisation in which it was necessary to reflect on more complex areas that would require “tougher” intervention.

The mechanism used to overcome resistance to change was the search for consent.

Outcomes and Assessments

Outcomes achieved are as follows:

Internal Changes: Wait times are cut and the organisation works transparently; external changes: electronic administration services for citizens.

Electronic Processing: Processing system that identifies and manages all the requisite tasks.

Communication: Communication media are provided to inform citizens. Forms: electronic forms.

Identity and Signature: Use of the citizens’, companies and civil servants’ electronic signatures.

Payments: E-payment services by means of credit card or e-banking.

Consultation: Citizens can electronically consult their files.

Assessments are as follows:

Performance Indicators:

The methods used to measure the results have been obtained by being able to classify the different types of internal actions, in such a way that the datum on how the procedure was initiated, who the responsible subject is, comparison between the legal deadline for processing and the average processing term, the number of files resolved by area, by service and the effects of silence, to the extent that when there is no express answer to an application whether it is understood as having been conceded or rejected.

Methods Applied

The procedure is completed in three phases: start-processing-end:

•Start: On knowing the different procedures and their documentation it has been possible to define a unitary input form model. On digitalising document input, wait times between submission and reception by the internal addressee have been done away with.

•Processing: Internal information interchange wait time has been reduced. The job of those responsible for passing hard copy information on to other departments has been re-organised (re-use of staff). An internal work alert system has been put in place: electronic agenda. The wait time for documents to be signed has been done away with: electronic signature.

•End: Reduction of wait time for citizens, ensuring an integrated and quality procedure.

Benefits to Other Cities

Motivation: Avilés is a city that has modified its main sector of activity, changing over from the industrial sector to the developing of a service sector economy. Therefore, it is here where the change can be seen that has taken place in the city by strengthening its relation with the citizens by means of better public services.

The final result obtained is the implementation of an integrated quality system in our organisation, particularly in those areas that have been selected as a result of being more complicated or because they are of greater import for citizens' activity or as a result of having a greater number of procedures and files.

Consequently, the end result has been the possibility that the citizen can submit an application at the entry to the organisation and automatically this is integrated into one of the classifications that have been identified, thus triggering an automated administrative procedure without the manual intervention of those involved.

The passing of the application through the different internal organisation managers is brought about by means of an alert and notification system without any intervention from physical people, as long as this “administrative route” has been defined previously on the computer management application. The alerts and notifications are incorporated into the processing deadlines and standard forms that are adapted to the specific procedure that has been selected at the start of the procedure.

The alert and notification system is also used for the different signatures required to achieve the proposed objective. The electronic signature system is implemented by means of an external certifying entity mechanism which guarantees certain peculiarities of the signature such as the date and time of signing the document, its integrity and, above all, the authenticity of the person who signs the document in question.

The electronic signatures used define the manager, his or her post within the organisation as well as, where appropriate, the identification of the public authority that takes the final decision about the application and completes the procedure.

The identification of the responsible parties also enables the definition of security profiles that restrict access to different files, depending on the area of responsibility that corresponds to their processing.

Thus, applications about the installation of restaurant or bar terraces in public thoroughfares, their renewal, the processing of an administrative subsidy, the making of a complaint or suggestion about internal operation or the submission of an invoice have been integrated into this novel work system that has enabled us to meet the demands of a civil society becoming increasingly more demanding of its public services and to endow Avilés with a quality image that is projected in different spheres.