Can e-government solutions enhance the work in

municipalities? Empirical evidence from case Lupapiste

Jari Jussila1, Timo Lehtonen2, Virpi Sillanpää1, Nina Helander1 & Julius Kallio3

Tampere University of Technology, Solita & University of Tampere

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Lupapiste service development started as a part of Action Programme on eServices and eDemocracy (SADe programme) set by the Ministry of Finance in Finland

Case Lupapiste “Permission Desk”

Aim of the study: Internal Effectiveness & Efficiency (IEEE) and Enhancement of Knowledge Work

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B2G

G2B

G2B

G2CG2G

IEEE

Municipality

Other municipalities

Citizens

Businesses

Solita e-Government

service provider

Source: see Scholl et al. (2009) E-Commerce and e-Government: How Do They Compare? What Can They Learn From Each Other?

Investigated Metrics• Throughput time is often used as an indicator of

value, where the quicker it goes the better is the result, this is not, however, always the case in services, as humans have also indirect needs.

• Flow efficiency has been defined as the sum of value-adding activities in relation to the throughput time. In measuring flow efficiency, the needs dictate what the value-adding activities are and therefore what flow efficiency is.

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Source: Modig, N. and Åhlström, P. 2012. This is lean: Resolving the efficiency paradox. Rheologica.

Research Approach• Data from Lupapiste • Interviews

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Municipality Roles of interviewees Number of interviews

Hyvinkää Building inspectorSecretary, customer service

11

Kuopio Engineer, construction permitSecretary, supervision of building

1

1Vantaa Director, supervision of building

Secretary, supervision of building

1

1Sipoo Manager, supervision of building

Secretary, supervision of building

1

1Mikkeli Leading building inspector

Office secretary11

Usage data converter: https://github.com/timole/sopernovusOperative data converter: https://github.com/timole/sopernovsa

Insights from the Interviews• Ability to process applications 24/7 wherever

internet connection is available increased flexibility of work by enabling flexible working hours and remote work

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Efficiency

Increased flexibility- Application

processing 24/7- Remote work

ApplicantAuthority

Insights from the Interviews• Time savings related to printing activities were

considerable for municipal employees, since printing large plans that was required before digital service, is time consuming and also costly

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Efficiency

Cost savings- Time and cost

savings of printing- Declined amount of

customer visits as personnel can reply to questions online and customers can see the status of their applications online

Insights from the Interviews• Increased ability to utilize resources, especially building

inspectors had more time to focus on their core tasks• E.g. productivity improvement of 65% in application

handling (with the same amount of personnel) in one of the studied municipalities.

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Efficiency

Productivity improvements- No need to search

for (or locate) paper files

- Reduction of information asymmetries

- Improved information ergonomics

Measured lead times in municipalities

Municipality Approvedapplications

Distinctoperations

Averagelead times

Medianleadtimes

Municipality A 730 41 77 57

Municipality B 55 17 57 46

Municipality C 1600 39 69 56

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Measured median flow efficiencies in municipalities

Municipality andoperation

2014 2015 2016

Municipality A groundsource heat 38 32

Municipality B groundsource heat

Municipality C groundsource heat 45 54 57

Municipality A smallhouses 43 45

Municipality B smallhouses 40

Municipality C smallhouses 44 44

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Discussion and conclusions• The main factors increasing the knowledge work

productivity were increased flexibility of the work, possibility to concentrate on the core work, information transparency and time savings due to digitalization of the application process.

• Flow efficiency calculations together with the median times used to process the applications provide new indicators for evaluating the efficiency improvement from digitalization.

• The most significant improvements in efficiency were achieved in municipality that was the most active in use of e-Government service. 100% digital provides the best results.

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