Digital Government Review of Slovenia - Leading the digitalisation of the public sector Key findings - OECD
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Digital Government Review of Slovenia Leading the digitalisation of the public sector Key findings
Contents
1. BACKGROUND 1
2. CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND INSTITUTIONAL MODELS 3
3. POLICY LEVERS TO LEAD THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 8
4. DIGITAL TALENT FOR A TRANSFORMATIVE PUBLIC
SECTOR CULTURE 12
5. SERVICE DESIGN AND DELIVERY 15
6. DATA-DRIVEN PUBLIC SECTOR 20
REFERENCES 27
Barbara-Chiara Ubaldi – barbara.ubaldi@oecd.org
João Ricardo Vasconcelos – joao.vasconcelos@oecd.org
Benjamin Welby– benjamin.welby@oecd.org
Lucia Chauvet – lucia.chauvet@oecd.org
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are
without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory,
to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to
the name of any territory, city or area.
OECD Digital Government
and Data Unit
KEY FINDINGS
BACKGROUND
1. Background
Building on recent progress to digitalise its public sector The analysis is framed by the six dimensions identified by
and conscious of the need to emphasise how digital OECD for countries to achieve digital government maturity
transformation can strengthen national economic (see Figure 1.2). The review evaluates the efforts made
competitiveness and social wellbeing, the Government so far by the Slovenian government to progress in the
of Slovenia requested the OECD Directorate for Public development of e-government (e.g. to foster administrative
Governance to develop a Digital Government Review. simplification, debureaucratisation, simpler access to
services) to enact a full shift towards a digital government
The Digital Government Review of Slovenia builds on approach, which is considered by the OECD members as a
the experience and knowledge acquired by the Open cornerstone of the path towards a digital transformation
and Innovative Government Division of the Directorate of the public sector that is capable of responding to the
for Public Governance through similar projects needs of digital economy and society (Figure 1.3).
conducted over the past 20 years in a number of OECD
member and non-member countries. The Review is Leading and framing the digital transformation of the
being conducted using the OECD Recommendation of the public sector will enable Slovenia to fully benefit from
Council on Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[1]) as digital technologies to foster a citizen and data-driven
a framework of reference, which contains twelve key administration that can support the country’s journey
recommendations grouped in three main pillars (see towards a developed digital economy and a healthy
Figure 1.1). digital society.
Figure 1.1. OECD Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies
OPENNESS GOVERNANCE CAPACITIES TO SUPPORT
AND ENGAGEMENT AND COORDINATION IMPLEMENTATION
1. Openness, transparency and 5. Leadership and political 9. Development of clear
inclusiveness commitment business cases
2. Engagement and 6. Coherent use of digital 10. Reinforced institutional
participation in a multi-actor technology across policy areas capacities
context in policy making and
7. Effective organisational and 11. Procurement of digital
service delivery
governance frameworks to technologies
3. Creation of a data-driven coordinate
12. Legal and regulatory
culture
8. Strengthen international framework
4. Protecting privacy and cooperation with other
ensuring security governments 9
non-OECD
countries
adopted
CREATING VALUE THROUGH THE USE OF ICT
Non-OECD members: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Panama, Peru, Russia
Source: Inspired by OECD, (2014[1]), OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies
1
DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
Figure 1.2. Digital Government – 6 Dimensions
Government
as a platform Digital by design
Figure 2. Digital transformation of the public sector
Open by default User driven
Data-driven
public sector Proactive
Source: Elaboration from OECD, (2014[1]), OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies
This document presents the key findings formulated
by the OECD peer review team, following a fact-finding
mission to Ljubljana during October 2019, and covering
these 4 areas of focus:
l Governance to lead the digital transformation
l Digital talent for a transformative public sector culture
l Service design and delivery
l Data-driven public sector
The views and findings expressed in this document will
be further discussed and detailed in the final report of the
Digital Government Review of Slovenia, to be presented in
Spring 2021. n
Figure 1.3. From Analogue to Digital Government
ANALOGUE E-GOVERNMENT DIGITAL
GOVERNMENT GOVERNMENT
Closed operations Greater transparency Open and user-driven
and internal focus, and user-centered approaches, process and
analogue procedures approaches, ICT-enabled operational
procedures transformations.
Source: Elaboration from OECD, (2014[1]), OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies
2
KEY FINDINGS
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND INSTITUTIONAL MODELS
2. Contextual factors and institutional models
INTRODUCTION ecosystem of stakeholders, enabling administrations
to assure coherent and sustainable implementation of
In face of rapid and disruptive digital progress digital government policies. Building on the knowledge
transforming economies and societies, countries around and experience of OECD member and non-member
the world face the challenge of leveraging digital countries, the E-Leaders Handbook on Governance
technologies and data across the public sector to spur provides a framework to support policy makers and
productivity, design and deliver user and data-driven senior officials navigating the different models public
policies and services, and facilitate the day-to-day life sectors are adopting worldwide to lead, coordinate
of citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced this and implement their digital government policies (see
trend, highlighting the importance of investment in Figure 2.1) (OECD, 2019[2]).
digital transformation to demonstrate the resilience,
responsiveness and agility required of public sector The first facet of the E-Leaders Governance Framework –
organisations. Public sectors are expected to adjust contextual factors – underlines that contextual analysis
quickly and continuously generate public value, by and knowledge of the overall environment are essential
taking inclusive approaches. In order to enhance the for finding institutional solutions that are adapted
digital transformation underway, government-wide and relevant to the specific social, economic, political
cohesion is essential, driven by sound leadership, and cultural scenarios. There is not a one-size-fits-all
strategic coordination and the involvement of the approach for governance of digital government.
Figure 2.1. E-Leaders Governance Framework
1. Contextual factors 2. Institutional models
1 2
4 1 GOVERNANCE Macro- Leading public
Environmental Overall political FACETS structure sector
& geographical & administrative organisation
considerations culture & structure Digital Government
3 2
Technological Socio-economic 3. Policy levers 3 4
context factors Leadership: Coordination
position/role and compliance
1 3
Strategy Financial
measures and
mechanisms
2 4
Management Regulations
tools
Source: OECD (2019[2]) E-Leaders Governance Handbook
3
DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
OVERALL POLITICAL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE
AND STRUCTURE
The administrative and
institutional features of countries vary
substantially and this can represent
different opportunities or challenges for
policy implementation. The geopolitical
situation, the various possible structures
of the executive branch, the division
of power between the central and the sub-
Even though there are common features to the national levels of the government as well as the political
governance models that support and accelerate the digital stability and continuity are examples of variables
transformation of public sectors, experiences across that determine how effective policy approaches need
different OECD member and non-member countries show to be designed and implemented. This institutional
that what works in a specific country context cannot variety among countries explains why successful
necessarily be replicated elsewhere. The mapping of policy approaches in one country cannot necessarily
contextual factors helps to gain a better understanding be replicated in different contexts. When considering
of specific aspects to be considered as potential obstacles OECD member countries, this institutional diversity is
or drivers of change and allows governments to establish naturally very high, determining different grounds, paths
the governance that better enforces and ensures better and models for digital government policy development.
alignment with their digital government strategy.
Slovenia is a parliamentary republic benefiting from
The second facet of the E-Leaders Governance a stable geopolitical situation and good cross-border
Framework – institutional models – focuses on the relations with its neighbouring countries. The country
distinct types of institutional set up in place and how experienced more recently some political turbulence
their different parameters impact and guide digital with governments not being able to finish their 4
government policies, shedding lights on the different years mandates. In this sense, policy continuity across
existing bodies, responsibilities and coordination political cycles is a critical concern in the public
mechanisms for digital government. Questions of sector. In the OECD fact finding mission to Ljubljana
leadership, portfolio and mandate are addressed, as on October 2019, several interviewed public sector
well as the capacity to link different policy agendas and organisations highlighted that new governments
compliance across the administration. tend to discontinue projects and initiatives underway
in the administrative, with negative sustainability
The current chapter presents a first assessment consequences in mid and long term of policy action.
and key findings applying the first two facets of the The territory is administratively divided into more
E-Leaders Governance Framework – contextual factors than 200 municipalities. Although the sub-national
and institutional models – to the Slovenian digital administration benefits from considerable autonomy,
government landscape. the central government based in the capital Ljubljana
4 DOCUMENTO PARA DISCUSIÓN
KEY FINDINGS
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND INSTITUTIONAL MODELS
is responsible for a wide policy portfolio, qualifying the the levels of digitalisation within the population and
country as administratively centralised when compared adoption of digital public services, the coverage and
with the overall OECD countries experience. development of IT infrastructures, but also the regional
variances and the heterogeneity of local economies.
The fact that Slovenia is a member of the European
Union (EU) since 2004 represents a central contextual When observed from a perspective of social-economic
factor deeply influencing its digital government policy. indicators, such as the level of household income and
During at least the last two decades, with the strong wealth for instance, Slovenia performs below the OECD
objective of developing a European digital single market, average (OECD, 2017[3]; OECD, 2020[4]). Nevertheless,
the EU has applied large efforts for the development of as the vast majority of OECD member countries and
e-Government/Digital Government policies across its EU member states, Slovenia has an unquestionable
member states. The European cooperation in this area is developed country status ranking 24th on the UN
intense involving exchange of knowledge but also joint Human Development Index (UNDP, 2020[5]). This social-
development of standards, funding of digital government economic wealth of the country is reflected on the
building blocks (e.g. digital identity, interoperability) level of digitalisation. Although Slovenia is below the
that can allow public sectors to provide citizens and OECD average in several digitalisation indicators (e.g
businesses with mature digital services. fixed and mobile broadband penetration, senior and
low income internet users, ICT investment intensity,
Slovenia is deeply involved in the EU cooperation in the ICT patents), the country presents a typical developed
areas of digital government and information society, economy digitalisation profile (OECD, 2020[6]).
benefiting from this strong external stimulus created
across these policy work streams. The country’s active The same assessment can be applied when considering
participation in the European strategies, initiatives more specifically the level of digital interactions of
and projects positively shapes the national digital the Slovenian population with public services. In 2019,
government policy and is consensually considered 53% of individuals aged 16-74 years in Slovenia used
an asset by the stakeholders interviewed during the the internet to interact with public authorities, ranging
OECD fact-finding mission to Ljubljana on October from simply obtaining information from government
2019. Additionally, the fact that Slovenia is a relatively websites to interactive procedures where completed
administratively centralised country, considered by its forms are sent via the Internet. But when considering
ecosystem as being small in population when compared the percentage of individuals using the Internet to
with European and OECD peers, can provide a policy send filled forms via public authorities websites, the
asset. Since Slovenia has the capacity to “move fast Slovenian percentage drops to 21% within a context of
and be agile” on digital government policy design and 38 % EU average (OECD, 2020[6]).
implementation, the country’s government and its
public sector should progressively consider embracing The socio-economic and digitalisation context of
and implementing a more proactive and positive policy Slovenia provides substantial room for improvement
approach that understands the country’s dimension as a on the country’s performance when compared with
comparative advantage. OECD and EU peers. Building on the consensus
for change that exists among the ecosystem of
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS AND DIGITALISATION stakeholders, a political moment can be created for
CONTEXT a wide and ambitious digital development agenda
for the country. In order to enhance the benefits of
As highlighted above, understanding, considering the digital transformation of the public sector, the
and leveraging the socio-economic, technological and Slovenian government should build on this social
geographic context of a country is fundamental for and economic digital eagerness and create a sense of
a sound digital government policy. The governance urgency leveraging the current digital disruptiveness to
in place needs to take into account fundamental strengthen the country’s economic development and
contextual factors such as the overall economic climate, social wellbeing.
5
DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
MACRO-STRUCTURE AND LEADING PUBLIC SECTOR led by a Director General is responsible for the wide
ORGANISATION (INCLUDES LEADERSHIP – POSITION executive coordination and implementation of the
ROLE) digital transformation of the public sector policy.
The Information Society and Informatics Directorate
The clarity, stability and simplicity of the institutional leads important digital government initiatives across
model that supports priorities of digital government the administration in areas such as digital identity,
is a foundational element for good policy leadership, interoperability and digital service delivery (see
coordination and implementation. Established roles and Chapters 3 and 4). There is a wide recognition of MPA’s
duties agreed and recognised across the administration mandate across the digital government ecosystem of
are critical for consistent, coherent and sustainable stakeholders observed during the OECD fact-finding
digital change. The existence of a public sector mission in October 2019 and also demonstrated in
organisation responsible for guiding and coordinating the OECD Digital Government Survey of Slovenia
digital government policies is a central element (OECD, 2020[7]). Nevertheless, as mentioned in the
of governance analysis. Considering the different section Overall Political and Administrative Culture
contextual factors, namely the country’s institutional and Structure, some lack of policy continuity across
culture and legacy, this public sector organisation needs political cycles was identified as a critical concern by
to be properly located in the government structure, the interviewed public sector institutions during the
benefit from a clear political mandate and be equipped OECD fact finding mission to Ljubljana in October 2019.
with the human and financial resources that can enable Several stakeholders highlighted that new governments
it to be a real driver of change across the different levels tend to discontinue projects and initiatives underway,
and sectors of government. with clear negative consequences on the sustainability
of policy action and results.
OECD member and non-member countries experiences
are very diverse regarding the institutional shape A broad consensus was found about the need of further
this leading public sector institution can have. Some empowering the Ministry of Public Administration
countries locate this institution in the centre of to effectively lead the digital government policy
government (e.g. Chile, France or the United Kingdom), of Slovenia across different sectors and levels of
others drive the digital government policy through government. Additional policy levers seem to be
a co-ordinating ministry such as finance or public required to secure effective policy implementation (see
administration (e.g. Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Sweden) Chapter 3), as well as political support that is more
or through a line ministry (e.g. Estonia, Greece, resilient to government cycles in terms of continuity,
Luxembourg). The leading public sector institution can consistency and sustainability. The Government
also have different institutional shapes such as a public of Slovenia could consider reinforcing the country
sector agency approach (e.g. Denmark, Portugal, United vision and analytical thinking around the digital
Kingdom), an unit, office or directorate (e.g. Colombia, transformation of the public sector to support such a
Korea) or a political level ranking authority such as a policy. Further clarification and communication of the
Minister or Secretary of State (e.g. Brazil, Estonia or role of digitalisation of the public sector for improved
Greece). citizen trust, social wellbeing and inclusive economic
wealth, and better connecting with different ongoing
In Slovenia, the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) agendas elsewhere in the public sector, can support
is responsible for the digital government national the civil service to embrace and enhance the digital
policy and holds a cross-cutting leadership function disruptiveness underway.
in the different levels and sectors of government.
The Ministry develops his coordination in line with
the State Governmental Council of Informatics
Development in Public Administration (see Section
Coordination and Compliance). Within the Ministry,
the Information Society and Informatics Directorate
6
KEYASPECTOS
FINDINGSCLAVES
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND INSTITUTIONAL MODELS
COORDINATION AND COMPLIANCE the coordination workgroup is responsible for
the preparation of proposals and action plans,
A cooperative and collaborative culture across the public coordination as well as compliance of digital
sector is fundamental to securing appropriate policy government measures in line ministries and other
coordination mechanisms for coherent policy design, public sector organisations.
development, delivery and monitoring. Institutional
coordination helps to avoid siloed policy action, prevent l Operational working group – led by the director of
policy gaps and mismatches, encourage the interchange the Information Society and Informatics Directorate,
of opinions, mobility of skills and sharing practices, and the operational working group is responsible for
enable synergies between public sector stakeholders. the implementation of activities, preparation and
Sound institutional coordination also supports a shift implementation of operational documents and work
from agency-thinking and government-centred methods reports based on action plans. Provides its consent
to system-thinking approaches in policymaking and to line ministries and government services to all
implementation capable of being synchronised with projects or activities that result in the acquisition,
the expectations and needs of citizens and businesses maintenance, or development of IT equipment and
(OECD, 2019[2]). solutions.
In line with the OECD Recommendation of the Council The formal coordination and compliance structure for
on Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[1]) and the the digital government policy of Slovenia has a design
diverse experiences and practices of OECD member that positively allows different levels of coordination
and several non-member countries, successful and the distribution of responsibilities seems to be
coordination approaches typically rely on two stages of clear and generally well defined. Nevertheless, despite
cooperation: a high-level cooperation and management, offering effective horizontal cooperation, recent years
putting together ministers or secretaries of State, and have identified critical weaknesses. The lack or even
ensuring extensive collaboration and supervision of inexistence of Strategic Council meetings of the since
the digital government strategy. Alongside this high- April 2018 until the writing of this paper compromises
level cooperation, an organisational and technical the necessary coordination that can secure the
cooperation system is also needed to address execution coherence and sustainability of the digital government
difficulties and bottlenecks (OECD, 2016[8]). policy. In fact, the majority of Slovenian public
sector organisations that answered the OECD Digital
In Slovenia, the Governmental Council of Informatics Government Survey confirmed that there is no regular
Development in Public Administration, led by the coordination with MPA on digital government policies
Ministry of Public Administration (MPA), is responsible and initiatives.
for the strategic leadership of the digital government
policy (OECD, 2019[9]). The Council has a threefold In this sense, improving the coordination of this
structure: policy area could be considered a priority in Slovenia
in order to contribute to centralised assurance of
l Strategic Council – led by the Minister of Public digital solutions, processes and services. Given the
Administration, the council is responsible for consensus found across the ecosystem of stakeholders
coordination and control of deployment of digital on the importance of further developing the digital
technologies in the public sector, review and approval transformation of the public sector, there is an
of the strategic orientations, confirmation of action opportunity for the Slovenian government to explore
plans and other operational documents and validation greater permanence and continuity for fundamental
of projects of line ministries above a certain threshold mechanisms of coordination such as the meetings of
(see Section Financial Measures and Mechanisms) the Council. This can be supported by increasingly
mobilising champions across the public, business and
l Coordination working group – led by the State civic sectors where there was great willingness to be
Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, involved further. n
7
DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
3. Policy levers to lead the digital transformation
INTRODUCTION place for the digitalisation of the public sector, mobilising
the different sectors and levels of government around
Having the proper political support, an empowered a common policy purpose. The document should make
leading public sector organisation and the right the necessary bridges with other public governance
institutional coordination mechanisms for policy agendas (e.g. innovation, open government, administrative
development are critical dimensions for strong modernisation, integrity), or broader policy priorities
and resilient governance of digital government, as in place (e.g. sustainable development, science and
highlighted in Chapter 3. But effective and efficient technology, education, wellbeing, environment) in order
policy implementation requires also having different to foster policy coherence and a systems thinking vision,
policy tools in place that can guide, align and enforce culture and practice across the public sector. The design
coherent and sustainable efforts across the public and delivery of the strategy are fundamental opportunities
sector. to concretely implement principles of openness and public
engagement. These processes can enable collaboration with
Based on the experience of the OECD Working Party the broader ecosystem of digital government stakeholders
of Senior Digital Government Officials (E-Leaders) such as the private sector, academia or civil society,
contained in the E-Leaders Governance Handbook securing the alignment with its needs and expectations, but
(OECD, 2019[2]), policy levers – soft or hard – are tools also act as an inclusive mechanism of shared ownership
that can be used by governments as means of action and joint responsibility for the policy agenda.
to achieve system-wide change. Effective and concrete
instruments that governments can develop for cohesive Practically all OECD members countries have a
and durable policy implementation, rationalising efforts digital government strategy in place setting the policy
and enabling synergies within the administration and objectives for the digital transformation of the public
with the broader ecosystem of digital government sector (OECD, 2019[10]). Although the denomination can
stakeholders. Policy levers are also fundamental vary (e.g. strategy, agenda or action plan), and it can be
for promoting the use of key enablers across the presented as a stand-alone document or part of broader
administration and securing the proper monitoring and public sector strategies (e.g. public administration,
impact assessment of policy efforts underway, boosting digital economy, information society), the critical point
public sector digital maturity (OECD, 2019[2]). for governance analysis is the existence of such policy
documents. More than ambitious statements, these
The current chapter presents a first assessment after documents set the vision and frame the national/federal
the fact finding mission to Slovenia in October 2019, policy around digital government over a given period.
applying the third facet of the E-Leaders Governance
Framework – policy levers – that foresees four In Slovenia, the digital government policy is covered
dimensions: 1) strategy, 2) management tools, 3) in the Public Administration 2020 – Public Administration
financial measures and mechanisms and 4) Legal and Development Strategy 2020 and by the Digital Slovenia 2020
regulatory frameworks. – Development Strategy for the Information Society until 2020.
With a 2015-2020 timeframe, the Public Administration
STRATEGY 2020 strategy prioritises critical elements of digital
government development such as integrated digital
The complex and diverse machine of government requires services for citizens and businesses, IT management,
a digital government strategy that sets the vision, aligns development of common building blocks, digital skills
objectives, defines priorities and structures the right lines and fostering the use of technologies such as cloud
of action to be adopted across the administration. The computing and data analytics across the public sector
strategy should be able to reflect the political agenda in (Ministry of Public Administration, 2015[11]). Besides
8KEYASPECTOS
FINDINGSCLAVES
POLICY LEVERS TO LEAD THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
digital society and digital economy oriented policy sense, there seems to exist space to better connect the
streams, the Digital Slovenia 2020 strategy establishes strategies in place with the concrete priorities, needs
relevant objectives for the public sector in areas such as and worries of Slovenian public sector institutions.
interoperability standards, open government data, digital Considering that both strategies are now reaching their
rights, digital identity management and ePayments for temporal term, an opportunity is emerging to involve the
digital public services (Republic of Slovenia, 2016[12]). ecosystem of stakeholders on potential new strategies
to be developed in this area, with the goal to secure their
The two strategies present a reasonable full relevance in relation to specific institutional needs or
complementarity, defining action-oriented priorities priorities of policy areas. This is essential if Slovenia aims
and also the financial resources foreseen for their to ensure that digital government enhances the digital
implementation. The ecosystem of stakeholders transformation of the public sector.
interviewed during the OECD fact-finding mission to
Slovenia in October 2019 and that responded to the MANAGEMENT TOOLS
OECD digital government survey showed great awareness
of the strategies in place. The ecosystem also confirmed Coherent investment in digital technologies and use
that the strategies were elaborated in collaboration with of management models across the public sector are
other public sector institutions. Nevertheless, when critical to optimise efficiency and avoid duplication of
questioned about the relevance of the strategies for their efforts and expenditures. These policy levers promote
public sector organisation (e.g. mandates, alignment streamlined policy implementation aligned with
with institution’s goals, etc.), the vast majority of the the digital government strategy in place and enable
respondents to the OECD Digital Government survey improved sustainability for the initiatives and projects
consider it “moderate” or “weak” (OECD, 2020[7]). In this underway. Standardised business cases, for instance,
9DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
encourage value creation as they help to frame the and coherent procurement of digital technologies in
advantages of policy action and improve monitoring the Slovenian public sector is a challenge promptly
capacities across the administration. Standardised recognised by the Ministry of Public Administration
and agile project management helps to build common and the broader ecosystem of digital government
organisational and administration grounds for stakeholders.
the different digital government initiatives being
implemented and consistent adjustment capacity to In order to improve standards and assurance for
face rapidly changing contexts. Specific procurement coherent digital government there is an opportunity
policies and frameworks for digital technologies allow for Slovenia to consider reinforcing and, if necessary,
important savings and efficiency gains, help make creating the necessary conditions for applying these
purchasing consistent with overarching strategic three policy levers – business cases, agile project
objectives, generate transparency, and promote the management and strategic procurement of digital
involvement of providers through commissioning technologies – to strengthen the coordination capacities
approaches (GDS & OECD, 2019[13]; OECD, 2019[2]). of the Ministry of Public Administration and enable a
more cohesive digital transformation of its public sector.
The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital
Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[1]) has specific key FINANCIAL MEASURES AND MECHANISMS
recommendations that underline the value of business
cases and agile project management methodologies, as Institutional frameworks for the allocation of financial
well as the strategic procurement of digital technologies. resources that can promote and secure policy
Although with different approaches in terms of implementation are also important policy levers that
standardisation and enforcement, the use of these governments can use to support digital government
three policy levers is relatively common in the digital development. For instance, the capacity of the public
government policy context of OECD countries (OECD, sector institution that leads the digital government
2019[10]). policy of the country to influence the national budget
is an extremely valuable asset to guarantee the
In Slovenia, the further development of these policy prioritisation and coherent implementation of public
levers and their positive impact for a coherent and sector digitalisation. Moreover, the existence of a budget
sustainable digital government in the country is threshold determining that, above a certain financial
commonly recognised and supported by the ecosystem value, digital government expenses need to be centrally
of digital government stakeholders. The Methodology pre-evaluated is also a clear instrument for securing
of project management in the state administration – IT efficient and stratregic use of existing resources and
projects and the IT investments approval process by coherently bringing public sector policy actions into
the Council of Informatics Development in Public line with overarching priorities. Funding or co-funding
Administration demonstrate the efforts underway for mechanisms to support digital government initiatives and
coherent management of digital technologies initiatives projects in different sectors and levels of government can
and projects. Nevertheless, the existence and current also support coherent and efficient policy implementation
applicability of these tools is not clear to the majority simultaneously assuring the dissemination of standards
of public sector organisations that answered the and key enablers that act as building blocks for a cohesive
Digital Government Survey of Slovenia, namely when digitalisation of the public sector.
referring to standardised business cases and project
management models (OECD, 2020[7]). Regarding the The experience of OECD countries varies considerably
procurement of digital technologies, the centralised regarding the existence of the mentioned financial
formal process for the approval of investments by the measures and mechanisms. Nevertheless, there is a
mentioned Council supports efficiency and coherence common acknowledgement across the members of the
across the administration. But considering the identified Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials
lack of Council meetings since April 2018 (see Section (E-Leaders) that these kind of hard policy levers can
Coordination and Compliance), guaranteeing strategic play a decisive role in the strategic promotion, effective
10KEYASPECTOS
FINDINGSCLAVES
POLICY LEVERS TO LEAD THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
enforcement and cross-cutting monitoring of policy recognition of digital artefacts such as documents
implementation. or signatures, the reinforcement of personal data
protection and cybersecurity legal frameworks or the
Although there is a general recognition of the relevance increasing regulation on data governance (OECD, 2016[8]).
for this kind of approach to support the implementation Depending on the institutional culture of their public
of the digital government strategy, the effective use sector, some countries have more legalistic cultures and
of budgetary or funding policy levers in Slovenia is others follow more consensus-based approaches.
currently limited. The most relevant example refers
to the existing threshold of 20 000 EUR (without tax) Slovenia developed broad efforts during the last
for digital government investments. The Strategic decades to progressively adapt its legal and regulatory
Board of the Council of Informatics Development in framework to the digital transformation underway.
Public Administration is responsible for evaluating Benefiting from the European Union regulation
ICT expenses above the mentioned value, promoting stimulus, important steps were taken for instance in
in this sense integrated and cohesive policy efforts for the areas of digital signatures, access to public sector
the digital transformation of the public sector. But as information, privacy and data protection, digital
mentioned above (section Coordination and Compliance), security or sharing of government data within and
the absence of Strategic Council meetings since April across the public sector. Nevertheless, weaknesses in
2018 until the writing of this paper compromises the legal and regulatory approaches are commonly pointed
current effectiveness of this policy lever in Slovenia. out as obstacles for government digital maturity.
Public stakeholders that answered the OECD Digital
Further developing financial measures and mechanisms Government Survey of Slovenia identified the need to
in Slovenia should be increasingly considered as an simplify the legislation, update areas such as digital
adequate response to the need of further empowerment identity or trust services and improve communication
and coordinating capacities of the Ministry of Public to reinforce its cohesive application (OECD, 2019[9]).
Administration for strengthening its leadership of the
digital government policy. Beyond continuing efforts to keep the relevant legal
and regulatory framework properly updated, Slovenia
LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS (INCLUDES should further explore the development of an agile and
DIGITAL RIGHTS) experimentation-driven culture properly linked and
driven by the digital government strategy to address
The fast pace of digital change nowadays requires change in the public sector that can counterbalance
permanent efforts by governments to keep their legal the established legalistic approaches. This requires
and regulatory frameworks updated. Since policy persistent efforts to gradually change the mindset of
actions need to be strongly backed by clear laws public officials towards innovation-oriented and life-
and regulations that can guarantee principles such long learning approaches that can test and rapidly
as openness, accountability, proportionality and adjust to the current face pace of change. On the other
impartiality, together with an unquestionable respect hand, updating the legal and regulatory framework
of citizens and businesses rights, governments’ agility using a digital rights angle can also guarantee better
and responsiveness to institutionally navigate the rapid alignment with citizens and businesses needs and
changes underway are some of the critical challenges of expectations. Considering the progressive penetration
the digital age. Legal and regulatory frameworks should of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence
enable digital opportunities to be seized and risks in public sector processes and services, and the
tackled, avoiding creating bureaucratic friction to the adoption of data-driven approaches, issues of digital
transformation of economies and societies, minimising consent, ethical use of data or algorithm transparency
risks and maximising benefits. increasingly require governments to consider this third
generation of digital rights as a requisite for a digitally-
OECD countries have progressed a lot in the last decades enabled state (OECD, 2019[14]; Ubaldi et al., 2019[15];
through the establishment of digital rights, the formal OECD, 2019[16]). n
11DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
4. Digital talent for a transformative public
sector culture
INTRODUCTION need for building on existing capabilities and targeting
shortages becomes a priority in order to maintain high
In the era of digital transformation, where social quality public services and trust from citizens.
changes lead to modifications of workplace, work
content and the technology used, governments are The digitalisation of our economy and society, such
facing a pressing need to prepare civil servants with the as tax collection, public sector communication and
proper digital skills to support, navigate and implement management of citizen services and planning, have
such transformation as well as to achieve high digital created demand for a host of different digital skills
maturity to attract and retain talents in the public and competencies necessary to run a successful digital
sector. Across OECD member countries and non-member government. This means that it is necessary to equip
countries, there are many reasons that explain the the public workforce with skills and competencies that
absence of a much-needed strategy for digital skills that empower them to quickly adjust and be efficient in
responds to new demands such as limited awareness their environment. Identifying, and ensuring, the right
of its importance about the leadership, on budget digital skills and competencies are critical for developing
restrictions. However, there is a growing emerging services that can adapt and respond to citizens’ needs.
12KEYASPECTOS
FINDINGSCLAVES
DIGITAL TALENT FOR A TRANSFORMATIVE PUBLIC SECTOR CULTURE
Technical skills not only are skills needed to build government constrains institutions to hire a limited
digital services and use platforms, but are also number of talents every year, which is a structural
associated with ‘new’ digital professions that support challenge for the country. In addition to this, neither job
the fundamental changes needed in the public mobility seem to be considerably encouraged, nor job
sector to sustain the digital transformation (e.g.data profiles are well defined, thus civil servants’ incentive
scientist, user researcher, service designer, product to reskill or upskill their digital skills is critical and this
manager) and reimagined ones (business analyst, does not make public service roles attractive to top
delivery manager). Due to the crosscutting nature talents.
of skills, digital skills apply at every level within
the public sector, from experts to leadership roles, There is therefore not only a lack of skills but also a gap
especially softer aspects of digital capacity, such as in strategic human resource management. To address
flexible managerial skills, adaptability skills and meta- these issues, many OECD countries have prioritised,
learning skills. among others, a focus on strengthening collaboration
across sectors and levels of government in a digital
The OECD peer review team observed during the environment, equipping civil servants with digital skills
OECD fact-finding mission, a lack of collaboration and competencies to work in multi-disciplinary teams,
between different sectors of the government to create in an agile environment, and attracting and maintaining
synergy. Some lack of political continuity between digital talents. The Slovenian government may consider
recent governments may have affected the stability of developing a similar action plan for a success digital
leadership, and may also have weakened collaboration transformation.
ties within the government (See Section Coordination
and Compliance). The project of centralisation PUBLIC SERVICE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
through GOV.SI (see Chapter 5) shows a willingness
to unify, collaborate and communicate across sectors As addressed in Chapters 1 and 2, a clear digital
with its success benefiting from having clarity of government vision and strategy of a country is
vision and commitment of leadership. A strong crucial for the development of workforce’s synergy,
leadership would then facilitate the development of skillsets and career paths, and most importantly for
a digital culture, leading to a solid digital workforce an efficient digital transformation of its public sector.
equipped with reliable digital skills. This is why establishing an environment that welcomes
collaboration and enables the development and
Many stakeholders revealed that they were often practice of digital skills is necessary to strengthen the
under resourced due to a lack of IT skills and government’s ability to respond to citizens’ increasing
operating in environments with low digital maturity, and evolving expectations towards public services.
which constrained the agility of their teams.
Although courses and workshops are offered at the In Slovenia, considerable political changes happened in
Administration Academy, the identification of skills the past decade, which has possibly affected the setup
needed for each role seems vague and the motivation of a digital culture to steer and coordinate across the
from civil servants to learn new skills varies between structure. In line with the OECD Recommendation of the
institutions. As a result, teams are overloaded with Council on Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[1]), the
administrative and management tasks, such as those experience of several OECD member and non-member
associated with procurement. countries also shows that a clear vision articulated by
strong leadership is highly important in promoting a
Many institutions are concerned with their limited change of environment and establishing a work culture
financial resources, which may result in losing their focused on digital practices.
talented staff to the private sector and being unable to
compete in replacing them. Not only is the salary of a During the OECD mission to Slovenia, the team noticed
civil servant not as attractive as in the private sector, some important efforts are being made to centralise
but also the recruitment system of the Slovenian information under GOV.SI and services under eUprava,
13DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
(discussed further in Chapter 5). Although this initiative on Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[1]), many
is a great opportunity for collaborating and deepening OECD member and non-member countries demonstrate
synergy between institutions, a lack of engagement as a willingness to achieve further digital maturity also
often observed resulting in the perspective of such an by prioritising institutional capacities into building a
initiative as a top-down decision instead of an invitation digitally skilled workforce. In 2019, the Government at
to a joint one. A strong leadership with a clear and a Glance publication found that around 61% of OECD
forward-looking vision could then help to establish goals countries (22 out of 36) have civil-service-wide training
and behaviours that strengthen collaboration across strategies or action plans, which is an increase from
sectors within the workplace. slightly less than half in 2016 (OECD, 2019[17]).
In Slovenia, the Ministry of Public Administration
Given the progressive use of digital technology across through the Administration Academy took the initiative
government institutions, there is also a need to consider of addressing the digital skills and competencies gap by
embracing a more receptive workplace to digital settings providing training to public servants. The Administration
and lifelong learning. This comes with an environment Academy outsources trainers and offers rudimentary
fostering digital experimentation, application of new training skills such as word processing, internet
digital skills, change of mindset by putting the human navigation, email communication and spreadsheet
in the centre of the strategy, focusing on the evolving programmes in order to provide the workforce with basic
needs and reiteration of job profiles and descriptions. skills. The Academy also collaborates with universities
This more strategic role of leaders could enable the experts to develop new training programs with different
development and growth of a more digital workforce to modules targeted at different groups of public servants
adapt to an increasingly digital society. for the development of digital skills including Data
Science for beginner, Business Intelligence, machine
PUBLIC SERVICE DIGITAL TALENTS learning as well as Open Data management. However,
the Academy does not seem to have in-house trainers to
In light of the change in the nature of work of the public promote courses within their workforce, as they reported
sector, it became essential to identify, train and equip enrolment being very low.
civil servants with digital skills that would enable them
to complete their job best and deliver high quality public During the fact-finding mission, the OECD peer review
services. Following OECD Recommendation of the Council team noted that although many stakeholders recognised
14KEYASPECTOS
FINDINGSCLAVES
DIGITAL TALENT FOR A TRANSFORMATIVE PUBLIC SECTOR CULTURE
the lack of IT skills and more generally the lack of digital are not used well, public services being developed can be
skills within the public sector, little showed interest in put at risk (OECD, 2019[17]).
joining and applying for training and courses. The team
later circulated a survey and results revealed that only Most OECD countries revealed a preference for
25% of respondents expressed concerns about their employing public servants in the central government
digital skills and were highly motivated to participate in administrations in 2019 (OECD, 2019[17]). The
trainings (OECD, 2020[7]). Some other participants consider policymakers acknowledged that main challenges
digital skills as “good to have” but do not see them as are to continuously assess skills and competencies
“required”, as they believe they can “learn by doing”, and needed in the public sector (OECD, 2017[18]) in order to
that only “big projects” require these skills. Consequently, prioritise hiring and maintaining talents in house over
the low motivation led to more demand for external outsourcing, particularly in areas with skills shortage.
provision of services, which not only creates a lack of
internal skills but also results in teams to be overloaded During the OECD fact finding mission to Slovenia in
by more administrative and managerial tasks than October 2019, many public sector institutions shared
technical ones. This practice puts at risk the capacity to their concern about having a limited fund and limited
control and understand what is being developed, and to the number of staff they can hire every year. As a result,
cooperate with other teams as the lack of internal skills teams are not able to replace talents and are under-
restricts the flexibility to operate in an agile way. resourced, therefore can only rely on external talents.
Although outsourcing is financially more costly than
After setting up a favourable work environment with hiring a new talent, due to the structuring policy, this
a clear vision for digital transformation, the Slovenian seems to be the only alternative to innovate. On top
government could now prioritise investing in training, of that, the organisational structure does not seem to
people and infrastructures across all level of the allow mobility of the workforce between sectors, which
institutions to enable services to be developed in-house, may also explain the fear in public sector organisations
increase ownership of products and services as well of losing talents to more flexible and attractive career
as multidisciplinary collaborations across sectors and paths, more generous salary packages and benefits in
institutions. This includes building trainings internally the private sector. The public sector talent management
to focus on the area of user centricity and emphasise on system of the Government of Slovenia does not seem to
soft skills, digital delivery skills, design thinking and end offer much mobility and thus decreases the incentive to
user experience, which are specific to the public sector professional growth.
needs. A digitally matured work place will thus condition
the creation of a digitally skilled workforce. However, some measures could be taken in order to
identify, attract and retain the top talents. Given the
PUBLIC SERVICE RECRUITMENT OF TALENTS job market options, it is necessary for governments
to position themselves as attractive employers, giving
In order to align with the vision of a country, candidates the chance to develop their career while
governments can decide to hire people through different serving society. They may consider developing accurate
types of employment contracts (OECD, 2019[17]). The job profiles and descriptions, as this gives employers
most common distinction is the permanent public the chance to paint a clearer picture of the roles
servant status and the contractor status, where pay, job available. The Government of Slovenia may also consider
security, performance evaluation and access to training adjusting its recruitment efforts and use creative
differ. These employment modalities very often affect ways to reflect the organisational culture and values,
the efficiency in attracting and sustaining talents as such a gamification of skills assessments. In today’s
well as motivating them to give their best to create high environment, digital maturity and agility of a work place
quality public services. With a clear and well-balanced are important selection criteria for strong candidates,
structure, this can give governments the flexibility to thus re-thinking their reward system, salary package,
develop and manage their workforce with the proper career paths and mentorship plan could equally
range of skills. However, if the employment modalities contribute to making the work place more attractive. n
15DIGITAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF SLOVENIA
5. Service design and delivery
The transformation of our daily lives is increasing and organisational politics, the history of channel
expectations about the quality of the experiences we strategies, technology and infrastructure and finally,
have with private suppliers, and in turn, with government. societal and geographic factors. Second, the service
OECD countries are increasingly acknowledging the design and delivery philosophy in terms of leadership,
importance of design in the quality of the services whether political, organisational and external, as well
government delivers and Slovenia is no different in as the behaviours associated with understanding whole
wanting to achieve a public sector that maximises the problems, designing an end to end service experience,
opportunities of the digital age to reduce the burden involving the public, working across organisational
and cost of interactions between citizen and state while boundaries and working in an agile way. Finally, the
increasing satisfaction, effectiveness and trust. availability of a wide range of different enabling
resources and technology play a significant role in
The OECD’s conceptual framework for analysing the determining the quality of experience and outcomes
design and delivery of public services (Figure 5.1) for citizens, businesses and visitors as well as the speed
identifies three areas that inform and shape their with which government is able to transform its service
quality. First, the context in terms of representative landscape.
Figure 5.1. A conceptual framework for analysing the design and delivery of services
2.1 Political, organisational and external 2.4 Involving the public
leadership and vision 2.5 Combining policy, delivery and operations
2.2 Understanding whole problems to work across organisational boundaries
2.3 Design of the end to end service 2.6 Taking an agile approach
experience
1 3
Context for Enablers to
design and support design
delivery and delivery
2
Philosophy
of design and Services
delivery
1.1 Representative and
organisational politics
1.2 Historic channel strategies
1.3 Legacy of technology and
infrastructure 3.1 Best practice and guidelines 3.4 Channel strategy
1.4 Society and geography 3.2 Governance, spending 3.5 Common components and tools
and assurance 3.6 Data-driven public sector
3.3 Digital inclusion 3.7 Public sector talent and capabilities
Source: OECD, (2020[19]), Digital Government in Chile – Improving public service design and delivery
16KEY FINDINGS
SERVICE DESIGN AND DELIVERY
CONTEXT FOR SERVICE DESIGN AND DELIVERY
From the citizen side, questions of digital inclusion and
Chapter 2 has discussed the contextual factors shaping particularly access and literacy should also be recognised
digital government in a country. In the context of in terms of how services are designed and delivered.
designing and delivering public services, these remain Web, telephone and face to face locations need to be
relevant. Although a governmental focus on the quality understood together in order to ensure that services are
of service design and delivery is arguably politically developed in such a way that users can access a given
neutral, its success is as reliant on political stability service at any point in the process of meeting their need,
and commitment as any other agenda. Financial according to their most convenient channel.
priorities in a country may create a sudden impetus
to move interactions online with the explicit aim of As a result, OECD countries are increasingly exploring
reducing face-to-face provision without considering unifying strategies for the design and delivery of services
the opportunity to transform the design and delivery and rationalising their public sector web estates.
culture. Indeed, this in itself will reflect the extent to Slovenia is no different in having begun to consolidate
which a country might mandate a particular approach all corporate government information on GOV.SI
from the centre versus local or regional autonomy. (https://www.gov.si), which has cut down the number
of administrative websites from 350 to 30 (European
Further influences will come from the legacy of Commission, 2019[20]). This site is then complemented by
how services were established with their associated eUprava (https://e-uprava.gov.si/) as an intended single
processes, data flows and channels not always being the entry point for accessing services and transactions.
product of strategic planning while different priorities However, although eUprava is the most significant
may have resulted in the development of different channel for providing access to services, its relationship
channels without coordination, or in competition, with GOV.SI is not always clear while the situation
between organisations meaning users have to visit regarding service delivery is complicated by a legacy of
multiple locations to address a particular need. Legacies institutional or sectoral websites and the provision made
of politics, physical infrastructure, data, technology, available face to face through physical locations. The
channels, brands or supplier contracts all influence the eUprava website and GOV.SI websites are just two parts
speed and capability of a public sector in pursuing its of landscape for accessing services and information
ambitions for transforming public services. ranging from companies (http://evem.gov.si), taxes
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