Paper for

"IFIP 1997 WG 8.5

Empowering the citizens through IT"

5-6 May 1997

Stockholm

English version

Title Government on-line in Switzerland

IDHEAP (Institut de Hautes Etudes en Administration Publique)

Cyberadministration : the situation in Switzerland

The l’IFIP WG8.5 working group "Information Systems in Public Administration ", proposes reflection on the new links and relationships created between administrative authorities and those they administer by means of information technology :

" Empowering Citizens through IT "

Is this a statement or a question ?

This article contributes towards this reflection. It describes the situation in Switzerland

The first part takes the form of general observations regarding each of the three administrative levels in Switzerland : the Confederation, the Cantons and the communes. Until today, information available on cyberadministration in Switzerland was virtually non existent.

Two research teams from IDHEAP (Institut de hautes études en administration publique - the Swiss graduate school for public administration) also carried out a study in towns and Cantons within Switzerland :

- the team " Management of information systems " led by Professor Jean-Loup Chappelet.

- the team " Local politics " led by Professor Katia Horber-Papazian.

The results of this study, presented in the second part of the article, make it possible to draw preliminary conclusions regarding the conditions for introducing new technology such as Internet in public administration, and the implications of this on relationships between citizens and Swiss administrative authorities.

Part 1 

observations regarding the three administrative levels in Switzerland

Confederation

Unlike countries such as France (where a decision by the Prime Minister has decreed that by the end of 1997, every ministry must have a certain amount of standardised information on Internet), the Confederation has not issued compulsory directives. Each office is free to decide whether or not it will opt for cyberadministration.

The Confederation’s home page makes it possible to federate the various sites, for which only the address is more or less standardised (http://www.admin.ch/[initials of the German name of the office]/).

We note, however, a certain number of interesting individual initiatives on the part of certain Confederate offices and services :

• The Federal office of statistics presents all the statistics it produces, with figures and graphics, plus special sections intended for schools (the rule of proportion, the calculation of percentages, etc.).
• The social security server (for old age pensions and invalidity insurance) provides exhaustive information on the 10th revision of the law on old age insurance. This is a major modification that affects all citizens.
• The Confederation’s Federal Constitution, decrees by the Federal Court (from 1975 to 1996) and a number of other reference documents are now available on Internet.

For an exhaustive list, we would advise you to visit the new reference site for Switzerland (see the end of the present article for explanations regarding this site).

Since the Confederation has not expressed a vision in the area of using Internet for its various offices, it is important to recall that the above examples, although extremely interesting, do not form part of a global strategy. Nevertheless, the Federal Office of Information Technology has issued a " Strategic Guide to the Web ", intended for administrative authorities, whether Federal or not, who wish to create their Internet server.

In coming months, however, we may expect initiatives on the part of the Federal Council (Government) in the area of strategy concerning Internet.

Cantons

A majority of Swiss Cantons have an official Internet site. The first to do so, Basle-City, opened its site as early as December 1994. Since the autumn of 1996, we note a considerable increase in the number of these being opened. Another site is born nearly every month!

The strategy of the Cantons and the content of their site vary considerably. Some of them focus on internal communication, by installing an Intranet for the Chancellor’s office, members of the Cantonal parliament, etc. Other Cantons favour communication with the outside world : those they administer, or even those beyond the Canton (tourists, investors, etc.). Certain Cantons have a federative site while others leave this to the discretion of the various departments and voluntary services.

In 1996, and unlike the Confederation, certain Cantons have started to reflect in depth on the role of Internet within public administration. We could quote, for example, the final report and the recommendations by the Technological Observatory of the Canton of Geneva, which were published on its Intranet in December 1996 as well as on Internet..

Towns

A pioneer among Swiss towns, Geneva opened its Internet site at the beginning of 1995, within the framework of a global strategy aimed at implementing a " single counter " for its inhabitants. Two years later, Lausanne drew benefit from its own experience with Videotex and that of Geneva with Internet.

Even though relatively few Swiss towns already have a site, the coming six months will be decisive. The image of cyberadministration on a local level will become more concrete.

It is within this context that we carried out a study of cyberadministration in Switzerland.

Part two 

study of cyberadministration in Switzerland

No study of cyberadministration existed in Switzerland prior to that carried out at the end of 1996 by IDHEAP .

The survey carried out covered official Internet sites, either existing or in preparation, on a Cantonal and communal level : the 26 Cantons and the 109 towns with over 10 000 habitants received a questionnaire.

Translations of the questionnaire were drawn up (French, German and Italian), corresponding to the various linguistic regions of Switzerland. The Canton of Ticino (where Italian is spoken) received four questionnaires (3 towns and the Canton), but only one was returned. No particular conclusions will therefore be drawn from this linguistic region.

The response rate from the towns (89 %) was higher than that of the Cantons (65 %). This result can be explained on the one hand by the fact that it was possible to follow up responses and on the other by the fact that several Cantons are currently undergoing organisational changes, particularly as a result of audits or the introduction of New Public Management. Many projects are therefore blocked ; the civil servants are overworked and inform us that they have no time to reply to a questionnaire. Part of the information concerning the Cantons therefore comes from direct observation of their Internet site, when it was impossible to obtain a returned questionnaire or a discussion by telephone. In this way, we were able to obtain at least partial information on 85 % of the Cantons. With this response rate, we feel we have obtained a representative image of cyberadministration in Switzerland. However, this is only a picture of one moment in time, i.e. the month of January 1997.

The first results

An overwhelming majority of Cantons already have an Internet site, while less than 10% of towns are in the same situation.

Distribution of replies to the questions:

Does your Canton have an Internet

address?

Does your town have an Internet address ?

The size of the towns is not sufficient to explain this difference : towns of between 15 to 20’000 inhabitants are just as present on Internet as those with over 20’000 inhabitants (in absolute and relative values). We find small rural Cantons (Appenzell Rhodes Intérieures), and large urban Cantons (Zürich) on Internet.

The gap between towns and Cantons will be filled in the months to come : over one third of the towns (including those with less than 15’000 inhabitants) have short term plans for a site. In fact, over ten towns and Cantons plan to open their site by the summer of 1997.

Although the first public administration site opened in Switzerland was in the German speaking area (Basle City), the French speaking area (and its towns) is now more present on Internet than the German speaking area. The projects noted only amplify this difference.

Within a year or two, almost two thirds of the towns in the French speaking region will have an Internet site, compared to a little over one third of the towns in the German speaking region, according to the information we have received on planned projects.

Why create an Internet site ?

One - and unanimously quoted - reason was to share and disseminate information. This is followed by improving service to the public and increasing government transparency in the eyes of the public.

On the other hand, reducing costs or reducing the paper burden was quoted by barely one third of the towns and Cantons alone.

Legend :

Other reasons - which were not proposed in the questionnaire - are also given : promoting the image of the town or Canton, or promoting the economy and tourism. These are obviously areas which concern administrative authorities to the greatest extent today.

Tourist, cultural and hotel resources are often well placed on the home page of the administrative authorities’ Internet sites. For small towns and Cantons, this aspect has often been given precedence.

Tourists, spa visitors, investors and other "external" or "international" visitors are often given facilitated access : home pages in various languages, including English, the organisation of information according to areas of interest (accommodation, museums, sports, etc.) and not according to any administrative structure.

How should the Internet site of an administrative authority be created ?

Behind Internet services within administrative authorities, we find the IT department (one third of towns and over 50% of Cantons), a political leader (for one third of the towns), the information service or other initiators such as a school or university or the world of economics.

Whoever initiated the creation of the site, the Cantons were able to find qualified people and the information technology resources in order to develop this internally. None of that Cantons that replied entrusted its Internet server to a private company.

The majority of towns, however, for reasons of security and confidentiality of their internal data, preferred - with one exception - to have their Internet server managed externally : it is difficult for a medium sized town to justify the purchase of a server for the exclusive use of Internet (or even two servers for security regarding access).

It is interesting to note that experience in the German speaking region of Switzerland is based to a much greater extent on using a " provider " (a supplier of Internet services, such as Intro, CMD, M&C Communication, etc.) or tourism or economic groups.

Certain administrative authorities claimed a domain name from SWITCH (the organism responsible for managing domain names in Switzerland: .CH and Liechtenstein : .LI), and consider the date when a page " Under construction " was installed as the date upon which their Internet site was created. Others reserved a domain name as a preventive measure (without a concrete Internet project for the time being) : for example, the association of communes in the Canton of Geneva systematically reserved names for all its members. This precaution is a sensible one, since the names of certain towns (Vevey, Winterthur, etc.) were taken by other bodies (insurances, providers, etc.). The same misadventure was experienced, for example, by the Canton of Vaud.

The names were chosen by communal and Cantonal authorities according to different strategies : either with the name spelled out in the local language, sometimes duplicated with another national language or English (2 http addresses) or by initials preceded by the abbreviation kt (for Kanton) for certain Cantons in the German speaking region. Combinations mentioning the administrative level and the name of the Canton or town (etatne for the Canton of Neuchâtel, kanton-bern and Canton-berne for the Canton of Berne) also exist. The choice of these domain names is not easy in Switzerland : several Cantons have the same name as towns (Bern, Neuchâtel, St. Gall, Basle, etc.) - and several Cantons have two or even three official Cantonal languages.

Quality of information

The most extensive, lively or up to date sites often rely on existing data bases : legislation, demographic or financial statistics, inventory of tourist resources, administrative directories, etc. Here, Internet is only a new interface which makes it possible to use this information.

Once the site is created, its life depends on collaboration between all services concerned to ensure the information is updated.

Most of today’s sites are static sites, containing text, images and perhaps the possibility of sending Email (often to the Webmaster rather than a personal identity or the head of a service or area).

Both the quantity and quality of information is sometimes lacking : some voting results or the list of addresses of the various administrative services do not constitute very lively or attractive sites. The information that is of the greatest interest to the citizen (for example debates and directives by the various commissions) are often absent or restricted (access via a password). We are still a long way from genuine transparency within public administration.

As an example, we have observed fairly detailed information concerning the conditions required in order to obtain unemployment benefit. This information was not, however, up to date and its presentation, in the form of overall tables, would not permit the man on the street to understand his rights regarding benefits clearly or without ambiguity. The site is not interactive.

At present, information provided on Internet by public administration -although factual - provides little added value. We noted that two departments of the City of Geneva propose information which we see as being more political. One presents its services mainly by means of a historical overview, in such a way that we were unable to prevent ourselves from thinking that this was a justification for the existence (and the cost) of this service. The other, even more political, proposes a historical overview and a discussion regarding the role of the Canton regarding culture, and evoking a possible redistribution of tasks and areas of competence between those in charge.

From time to time, we note discrepancies between the objectives stated - in particular regarding transparency - and the actual content of the sites : access to information is not always easy. The structure often used, based on departmental structure within public administration, makes the information sought difficult to find. One encouraging sign is that several towns are planning to implement a genuine service for their citizens via Internet. These projects are, however, being held up for reasons of data protection and user identification.

Means of information and communication within public administration are changing thanks to the pressure brought to bear by New Public Management : bringing the citizen-client closer requires free access to information in order for the citizen to be able to follow issues which concern him and to gain some understanding of how public administration functions.

For the time being, in Switzerland, it is only the Canton of Bern which no longer maintains secrecy in this connection. The new Bernese Cantonal constitution confirms, in article 17, paragraph 3 that " all persons have the right to consult official documents as long as no major public or private interest opposes this ". Cantonal law on information to the public (Lin) stated that the authorities " provide information on their activities, thus creating the conditions for freedom of opinion " (article 14 para. 1 Lin).

Dialogue between administrative authorities and the citizen

Closer proximity to the citizen implies not only strengthening means of information, but also setting up retroactive systems which make it possible to bear in mind the opinion of the client and thus to implement a veritable communications system.

Internet can become a forum for discussion and a tool for direct democracy, particularly during voting. One of the most extensive examples is the referendum that took place in Geneva on the subject of a bridge across the mouth of the lake. The Canton of Geneva set up an Internet site prior to the referendum of 9th June 1996. The information contained within the site illustrated the State Council’s position on the subject. Anyone interested was able to ask the authorities precise questions. Mentality still requires change, however, since out of 41’000 connections made between 11th April and 9th June, only 42 individuals really entered into communication with the Public Works and Energy Department.

We have also noted the use of Internet by police services when calling for witnesses in connection with missing persons or homicide.

Some sites request the input of visitors by asking them to fill out a form with their comments and questions. However, this is neither systematic nor always relevant : the question " what do you think of our site " is more frequent than " what is your problem and how can we help you ? ".

Some sites among those most recently opened offer a search engine - a tool which can be used in one part of their site alone (legislative section in Zurich, tourism in Lausanne, for example).

Conclusion

Cyberadministration is already a long standing phenomenon, since the first public administration site opened in Switzerland dates from 1994.

In 1997 we are entering a phase during which sites are rapidly multiplying within public administration : technology has now reached maturity. Its cost is reasonable and this also allows settlements of modest proportions (10 to 20’000 inhabitants) to be present on Internet.

The emergence of these projects is closely linked to a personality, whether in the area of IT or political leaders. The most spectacular examples are on the political side, as shown by the case of the referendum on a bridge over the lake mouth in Geneva.

We could doubt the relation between the use of Internet and increased closeness to citizens, or the increase in direct democracy so dear to the Swiss : information made available on Internet by administrative authorities still has shortcomings or is even obsolete. The existing sites which are accessible to a large number of the population (meaning without passwords given extremely selectively) propose information of variable quality. Administrative authorities publish the same information on Internet that they publish in traditional form (press releases, municipal information sheet, publicity brochures, etc.).

This tendency is in the process of changing. Although interactive dialogue remains in its early stages for the time being, we note that there are many ideas and projects in Switzerland, for example making it possible for citizens to complete their tax declarations on Internet or to apply for university, etc. It will therefore be interesting to review the situation in one year’s time.

Additional information from :

Christine.Poupa@comunicon.ch

January 1997

http://www.gov.ch/ the reference site for Switzerland

In order to better understand the emerging phenomenon of cyberadministration, we felt it was preferable not to list currently active sites here : this list will already be out of date within a few weeks. As of March 1997, however, we would refer you to the site http://www.gov.ch. This will contain government sites in Switzerland according to the criteria which interest you : by category (Federal, Cantonal and communal), by order of authority (executive, legislative, judiciary), by language used in the site, by name of the town or Canton and by the type of information contained in the site, thanks to a brief analysis of each site, and the Domino search engine.

http://www.gov.ch will also contain other items of information on cyberadministration and information highways, and in particular articles.

At our meeting in Stockholm, we shall also have more detailed documents available on specific experiences, and in particular those concerning Geneva and Lausanne.