Through PNRR / Component 7. Digital transformation, with an allocation of 1.884 billion.euro, it is desired to reform the public sector, connectivity and cyber security in Romania..
According to the Gartner Glossary: Digital transformation can refer to anything from IT modernization (for example, cloud computing), to digital optimization, to the invention of new digital business models. The term is widely used in public-sector organizations to refer to modest initiatives such as putting services online or legacy modernization. Thus, the term is more like “digitization” than “digital business transformation.”.
Context :
At the end of Q3 2022 there are delays in the implementation of the reforms (see C7-R2 milestones 148, 149, or C7-I1 milestone 153) and where they are fulfilled they are done "fast forward", with the predetermined idea that they will be modified later in the discussions withCommission (eg Law 242/2022 on interoperability).
The team of 15 experts who dealt with the concept of the "Government Cloud", was composed at a given moment of only 10 experts, moved to a structure of the Ministry, in which elites from the field of IT consulting are not interested in entering.
The digital transformation had to be started through a reengineering project of the processes carried out by government organizations, in order to simplify, streamline and harmonize with the digital systems that will be developed (Government Cloud, etc.)
Automation of processes / digitization without Reengineering, can lead to totally inefficient processes / blockages.
Process Reengineering
“Business Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed” – Michael Hammer and James Champy
Organizational process reengineering is an approach used to improve organizational performance by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of processes that exist throughout the organization. In addition to redesigning the organization's processes, it also involves redesigning the associated organizational systems and structures.
Until recently, the reasons for the reengineering of organizational processes were considered: the emergence of market opportunities, increased competition, poor financial performance, oversized organizational chart.
Having PNRR as the source of funding, respectively C7 - Digital transformation as an opportunity, the redesign of systems and organizational structures, must be a mandatory reason for the Reengineering of the processes of governmental organizations and their subordinates.
We would like...
That through PNRR / C7, a secure digital infrastructure with SMART Platforms should be created and implemented that emulates efficient processes, with public performance indicators (KPIs published on the institutions' website - as data of public interest), which at least have the following characteristics:
to uniquely authenticate the user (petitioner), in order to be able to access his data from any of the institutions, through a single interface;
the simple interface that can be understood by the user unfamiliar with the technology (without having to consult a thick User Manual);
to analyze the request and initiate billing (if applicable), respectively to automatically formulate data requests from the systems involved, (after the billing process has been completed);
to collect data in real time from several systems (through regulated APIs - which can also be purchased by third-party developers, for a fee) and not to request additional documents, if they already exist in one of the state's IT systems ;
to run the validation processes in the backend (without the intervention of any official, except in strictly regulated cases, e.g. when the official electronically signs the final document);
to generate predefined reports in standardized formats;
to notify the citizen through several means (SMS/email) if further clarifications are needed and the estimated duration of the resolution;
to communicate the result electronically in the shortest possible time (not one day before the regulated 30-day deadline).
We would be satisfied as citizens, to receive at least that much..
Free registration (acquiring a user account in the system), without having to go to a counter, for this;
Systems designed to "work well" individually, with the user having to log in separately in each of them;
To have access to an IT system with SMART / almost SMART Platforms, which will work minimally according to the requirements formulated in the specifications, without long "maintenance" periods, even if the APIs of the government systems will not be accessible to third-party developers "for reasons of security";
The system should be exclusively desktop, not being available in a mobile version, considering that it should be audited according to the rules of Google Play and App Store;
There will be no Process Reengineering on any of the processes of government organizations and subordinates (too many Laws and Application Norms, which should be changed), which is why inefficiency will be "automated" and the achievement of results will be sprinkled with many points of validation, to justify the army of officials;
In communication with state institutions, only the qualified electronic signature will be used, a reason for joy for authorized suppliers.
Conclusion(s)
We are delaying all the stages for various reasons and we hope that in the negotiations with the Commission we will change things somehow "so that the benchmarks assumed by the PNRR will turn out well";
There are many premises for things to be handled "in Romanian" and for everything to turn into a conglomerate of systems that "communicate" with each other in a cumbersome way (incomplete, low-speed data transfer) and inefficiently (with the same number of civil servants, which checks applications, analyzes data and manually validates processes);
The existing services will be put "on-line", that is, the citizen will have the chance to send a request / petition online on a form from a "platform", on which he will have the opportunity to upload scanned and electronically signed documents (in instead of conforming to the original), following the army of officials to "solve the petition", in the traditional 30 days;
Even if the Digital Transformation will be a real digitization, considering that we will have to scan the documents and upload them signed electronically, in an Uploader, from where the official will process them according to work procedures, he will request information from third institutions , where other officials will have work in the years to come - the PNRR/C7 objectives will be "achieved".