eGovernment that's fast, simple, useful and convenient
eGovernment aims to reduce transaction cost and complexity for all stakeholders, especially citizens. Users have some key expectations, which can be summed up in four words: eGovernment needs to be fast, simple, useful and convenient.
Using Magnolia, Slovenia’s Ministry of Public Administration was able to offer citizens an accessible eGovernment portal that makes it easy for citizens to find information and use services online. This has led to greater transparency and efficiency, while reducing costs.
Highlights
The Challenge
The Challenge
Making eGovernment easy for citizens
Citizens use eGovernment when it makes procedures faster and easier. For Slovenia’s Ministry of Public Administration, the first and most challenging step was to prepare relevant content, followed by making it easier to access. They knew that the portal needed a capable search engine and transparent structure, as well as robust integration with existing back-end government applications.
They also wanted the site to be easy to manage for government employees, who may have had experiences with multiple other systems. The end goal was to provide citizens with a user-friendly experience that would encourage them to carry out more online transactions.
The Solution
The Solution
Accessible services and simple tools
The eGovernment portal focuses on users, providing them with accessible services, useful information and simple tools that make e-business reliable and convenient. It offers comprehensive areas with descriptions of services, applications and institutions, making it easy to find information either with a search engine or through categories, target groups or other meta entities.
The portal provides an efficient search engine, along with a clear and transparent structuring of what it has to offer. Dedicated guides and tools make it easy to search for information. The overview of personal and other information from the national databases is interconnected with the content and shortcuts to current applications, and includes reminders and notifications etc.
The average Internet user is easily put off by complicated procedures and requirements. By enabling a user-friendly experience and applying the state’s horizontal building blocks (e.g. the central authentication system), eGovernment has simplified these procedures. Users can view the status of an application they’ve submitted and also receive an e-response in document form. They can also be notified regarding any upcoming obligations.
My eGovernment
The module allows authenticated users to securely view their personal information. Via My eGovernment, they are notified on time regarding any important events (e.g. expiration of their identification documents, attending elections) or changes in the application status. They can individually create certain reminders and notifications in their personal settings. The website content and functionalities of My eGovernment provide greater transparency and efficiency in e-business.
Electronic submission of applications
Submitting an application electronically involves several steps, i.e. data entry and review, (optional) payment and feedback. The portal aims to make the process easier by filling in certain data in advance, if the user is authenticated.
Authenticated users can use real-time monitoring to follow how the government is handling their applications. They can monitor the status of their applications by themselves within My eGovernment or adjust their notification settings so that the portal informs them of any changes via e-mail or SMS.
Back-end systems
The eGovernment portal also includes dedicated applications intended to manage the public administration’s e-business. The applications, which include administering institutions and application forms, supervising submitted applications and administering user profiles, have been developed on the Magnolia platform. The user experience is the same as in other default Magnolia applications. As a result, eGovernment administrators and content editors find it a seamless process, and are able to concentrate on the content.
The Result
The Result
A significant increase in e-business
In collaboration with Magnolia partner SRC, Slovenia’s Ministry of Public Administration was able to successfully complete the project within the anticipated scope, budget and time frame. The new eGovernment site is significantly more user-friendly, and provides an accessible interface that allows citizens to stay informed and carry out online transactions easily. The result is a significant increase in e-business.
As a large website with many stakeholders, it needs to constantly capture and monitor the needs of users, and to regularly involve them when preparing plans, testing versions and introducing new features. The Ministry of Public Administration plans to measure employee feedback to develop an optimal design of processes and plan new solutions on the Magnolia platform.
“The goal of eGovernment is to inform citizens and enable them to engage in e-business with the public administration. Citizens expect coherent content, a user-friendly experience and adequate responsiveness from the public administration. In collaboration with SRC, we managed to successfully complete the project within the anticipated time frame and scope, as well as in line with the budget.”
“We aim to deliver an efficient, professional and user-friendly public administration. The new eGovernment portal is significantly friendlier than the previous version, and I would especially like to point out the extensive public and personal data that is gradually becoming available to citizens via eGovernment.”
