- Open administration
The use of digital services increases by 11%: balance of the AOC 2023
The “Order TER / 1204/2021, of November 3, approving the regulatory bases and making the call for 2021, grants for the digital transformation and modernization of the Administrations of Local Entities”Addressed to the town councils of municipalities with more than 50.000 inhabitants. This order from the Ministry of Territorial Policy sets out a set of objectives, strategic lines and actions that can be subsidized in the field of digital transformation that are directly related to some of the AOC services that we are promoting in Catalonia. This has led to some inquiries and questions.
In order to guarantee that the Catalan city councils make the most efficient use of this European aid, with the maximum impact and in a coordinated way with the country projects that we are promoting together, avoiding duplications of initiatives, we share this document and information on the status of AOC services that are related to the call.
The note is in Spanish to facilitate the copying and pasting of the content in the documentation of the call.
1 Deadlines
Article 11. Execution of the activity. 1. The period of execution of the project shall be determined in the award decision and, in any case, shall be between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2022.
Article 14. Deadline and form of submission of applications. 1. Applications may be submitted from 9.00 am on the day following the publication of this order in the Official State Gazette, until 15.00 pm on 15 December 2021.
The deadline for execution is February 1, 2020 and December 31, 2022. The submission of bids is December 15, 2021 and the deadline for resolution is 6 months. It seems that this call is intended to finance projects that have already been carried out or are already in the award phase.
2 Prioritization criteria and mandatory requirements
2.1 General mandatory requirements
2.1.1 Cybersecurity Operations Center
Beneficiary entities must necessarily include the Cybersecurity Operations Center in their proposal. In the event that the beneficiary entity already has ongoing projects related to it, or has covered the needs in this area, it must justify it by means of a responsible declaration and will therefore be exempt, being able to dedicate the contemplated financing to the established prioritization. in the previous section or, as the case may be, to the eligible actions listed in paragraph 2 of this article.
The services of the Catalan Cybersecurity Agency include a cybersecurity operations center (SOC Security Operations Center) to monitor communications and prevent attacks. It is currently in the pilot phase and in 2022 will be deployed in the local world.
2.1.2 Alignment with strategic plans
a) Alignment with strategic plans: National Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience, Digital Spain Agenda 2025 and Digitalization Plan for Public Administrations.
AOC initiatives and services are aligned with all of these strategic plans.
2.2 Mandatory requirements based on the eligible action
2.2.1 Interoperability between services
Interoperability between services. They will allow integration with projects, platforms and initiatives of a similar nature, especially with those of the General State Administration, complying with the corresponding National Interoperability Scheme and Interconnection Technical Notes.
All AOC services that require it are interoperable or are in the process of integrating with AGE solutions.
Services already interoperable with the AGE:
- e. FACT with FACE
- Citizen Folder Hub (MyGov) with “My citizen folder” (PAGe)
- Via Abierta with the Data Intermediation Platform (PID)
- EACAT with SIR and Sara
- VALID with Cl @ ve and @Firma
- Procurement Services Platform of Catalonia with the Public Sector Procurement Platform
- AOC Local Open Data Platform with the state platform of Datos.gob.es (via the open data platform of the Generalitat de Catalunya)
Services in the process of integration pending the specification of technical aspects of interoperability by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Territorial Policy:
- E-Notum with Notific @ and the unique Enabled Electronic Address (DEHú) (also called Single Notification Point for all Public Administrations)
- It represents with Apoder @
All interoperability integrations are performed based on the agreed technical standards and in compliance with ENI.
2.2.2 Reuse
c) Reuse. In the terms provided for in article 157 of Law 40/2015, of 1 October, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, the result of the projects developed may be reused by other Administrations that require it if their nature allows it.
The AOC actively promotes the principle of reuse of solutions developed in the public sector since:
- AOC services are used by 2.250 public bodies in Catalonia. This fact is a proof of a case of effective reuse success that generates great savings by the Catalan administrations, reduces the terms to fulfill the legal obligations and facilitates the usability by the citizenship with standardized services.
- the AOC Consortium makes the source code of the applications it has developed available to the rest of the public bodies that request it.
- the AOC Consortium, whenever possible, reuses solutions from other public or private entities, to avoid reinventing the wheel. In this sense, the AOC reuses the following public sector or open source solutions:
- Hestia: local social services (Tarragonès County Council)
- We decide: citizen participation (Barcelona City Council)
- Ethical mailbox: alert and complaint channels (Barcelona City Council)
- Open data platform: CKAN, free software solution
2.2.3 Integration with “My citizen folder”
d) The Administrations receiving funds undertake to provide data to facilitate the provision of services to citizens through my citizen folder of the General State Administration referred to in article 8 of the Regulation of action and operation of the public sector by electronic media, approved by Royal Decree 203/2021, of March 30, with the aim of forming an efficient and effective data space for citizens and companies.
The AOC Citizen Folder Hub (MyGov) is integrated with the AGE's "My Citizen Folder". With this integration there is no need to do more.
Note: Currently, this integration has a technical impact. We are in contact with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation for its resolution
2.2.4 Integration with the AGE's procurement and grants platform
e) The Administrations will facilitate the integration of information in the common management platforms of electronic public procurement and of the subsidies indicated.
The Procurement Services Platform of Catalonia is already integrated with the Public Sector Procurement Platform, and there is a regular exchange of information so that all tenders from the Catalan administrations can be consulted on the state portal.
There is currently a centralized grant portal: there is no interoperability model for grants. When it exists from Catalonia we will integrate.
2.3 Other priority requirements
Citizenship-oriented administration: develop the 3 services most used by citizens adapted to mobile and accessible
AOC services, e-TRAM 2.0 and e-Notum, meet this requirement
Smart operations: launch of process automation initiatives
The AOC is becoming the automation pilot for the generation of the social vulnerability report, which integrates data provided by energy companies, Via Oberta consultations, requirements validation and communication in companies.
Citizenship - oriented administration: development of services that remove cross-border barriers for citizens and companies
The hub of digital identities of Catalonia (VALID) accepts any European digital identification notified and integrated with Cl @ ve
The AOC is actively involved in the integration project with the “Your Europe” portal: all AOC information and processing services will be federated with “Your Europe”
The AOC participates in the pilot of the European blockchain services infrastructure (EBSI) project with the aim of removing cross-border barriers to electronic processing and validation of accreditations or certifications issued by any Member State, in line with the new digital identity strategy of the European Union .
3 Eligible actions
3.1 Development of Apps for the most used services
a) Strategic line 1. Citizen-oriented administration.
1.º Objective: to improve the public services provided to citizens and companies, favoring the usability, utility, quality, accessibility, mobility of digital public services and the modernization of processes.
2.º Eligible actions:
i. Development of apps for the most used services. Development or adoption of the digital services most in demand by citizens and companies, through mobile, with special emphasis on the usability, accessibility and personalization of content.
From AOC we are promoting the e-TRAM and e-Notum solutions that allow the processing and electronic notification adapted to mobile devices, in a usable and accessible way. e-TRAM includes a catalog of a hundred procedures, among which are the most demanded by citizens, companies and associations. And e-Notum handles official notifications and communications (Priority 2)
The most used electronic actions are:
- Electronic notifications
- Generic instance
- Complaints and suggestions
- Incidents on the public road
- Procedures for economic activities
- Works procedures
- Personal data protection rights
- Right of access to public information
Electronic procedures and notifications made with e-TRAM and e-Notum are integrated with “My Citizen Folder” through the AOC Citizen Folder Hub (MyGov) (Priority 2)
These services will be integrated within the Cybersecurity Operations Center of the Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia (Priority 1)
The e-TRAM and e-Notum services offer a conversational assistant to solve the most common problems and issues in the digital identification process during processing (Priority 3)
E-TRAM and e-Notum are promoting electronic procedures open to European citizens and businesses (Priority 4)
- Accepts any European digital identification notified and integrated with Cl @ ve
- The AOC is actively involved in the integration project with the Your Europe portal
- The AOC is participating in the pilot of the European blockchain services infrastructure (EBSI) project with the aim of removing cross-border barriers to digital identification and electronic processing that requires accreditation from other countries.
Alignment with established priorities
- Priorities 1, 2, 3 and 4
Fulfillment of the defined objectives:
- Bridges the digital divide:
- any citizen with a mobile phone can contact the Administration
- any city council (regardless of its capabilities and resources) can offer quality electronic procedures, adapted to mobile devices, usable and accessible
- Improved accessibility: The solution meets AA accessibility standards
- Solution reused by 1.200 local authorities in Catalonia
- Use of emerging technologies such as chatbots
Evaluation indicators
- % of procedures available from mobile devices
- Digitization level: nº electronic procedures / notifications vs total procedures / notifications for all channels
- Digitization degree indicator
- % Electronic procedures / notifications completed with respect to initiates
- Usability and accessibility indicator
- Economic savings generated by the use of electronic channels by citizens
- Satisfaction of the citizens with the electronic procedures / notifications
- Citizenship perception indicator that assesses whether their needs or expectations have been met
Target group of the project
- Citizenship, business, public administration and entities
3.2 Development or adoption of virtual assistants
ii. Development or adoption of virtual assistants for the attention to the citizenship and companies. Development or adoption of virtual assistants for the improvement of the attention to the citizen, directed in particular to the orientation and tutelage of citizens and companies in the cases of use of greater impact.
At AOC we have had a chatbot for a year now that is running production with very good results (Priority 3)
It has exchanged 350.000 messages with 160.000 users in the last year. This service is now available in the following AOC services:
- In the VALID service to support the most common queries and incidents during the digital identification process during electronic processing
- Further information: CGD2021 - ROUND TABLE: Are Chatbots Really Useful to Support Citizens? - YouTube
- On the idCAT website to support the process of obtaining a digital certificate
The AOC's 2022 contract plans to be extended to the most common use cases of Catalan local administrations.
This service will be integrated within the Cybersecurity Operations Center of the Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia (Priority 1)
Alignment with established priorities
- Priorities 1 and 3
Fulfillment of the defined objectives:
- - Reduces the digital divide:
- any city council (regardless of its capabilities and resources) can offer a chatbot service to support incidents to its citizens
- Solution reused by 1.250 local authorities in Catalonia
- Use of emerging technologies: chatbots
Evaluation indicators
- No. of chatbot application usage cases
- Nº Conversations, messages and users using the chatbot
Degree of use indicator
- % Queries or incidents resolved
Usability and accessibility indicator
- Economic savings generated by automated assistance
- Citizenship satisfaction with chatbot
- Citizenship perception indicator that assesses whether their needs or expectations have been met
Target group of the project
- Citizenship, business, public administration and entities
Note on chatbots
Implementing chatbots is not easy as they are very unintelligent. They work well only in very specific use cases, they require a lot of training and maintenance of the monthly answers.
3.3 Automation of services
b) Strategic line 2. Intelligent operations.
1.º Objective: to improve the quality, quantity and efficiency of the services and processes of management and processing of public administrations, through the use of intelligent automation technologies (Robotization of processes, Artificial intelligence, etc.).
2.º Eligible action:
Service automation. Intelligent automation of the service delivery processes of the most used by citizens and companies, using technologies based on artificial intelligence, intelligent process management, process robotization or similar, to obtain a reduction of processing times and an improvement of the service.
One of the areas with the greatest potential for automation is open source consultations and integration with electronic records management applications.
From the AOC we are promoting the use of intelligent process automation robots (RPA) to solve complex operations involving different agencies. In this area we are promoting automated metaconsultation initiatives in Via Oberta. Specifically, we are developing the automatic generation of the social vulnerability report for delivery to energy companies. (Priority 4)
This service will be integrated within the Cybersecurity Operations Center of the Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia (Priority 1)
Alignment with established priorities
- Priority 1 and 3
Fulfillment of the defined objectives:
- Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Administration and public employees, by automating administrative tasks
- It reduces the digital divide of citizens with fewer digital capabilities to claim the social vulnerability report
- Solution available for reuse by the 947 municipalities of Catalonia
- Use of emerging technologies: robotic process automation (RPA)
Evaluation indicators
- No automatically generated vulnerability reports
- Economic savings generated by the use of automated processes
- Satisfaction of public employees with the automated process
- Public employee perception indicator that assesses whether their needs or expectations have been met
Target group of the project
- Citizenship and companies in the energy sector
3.4 Democratize access to data
c) Strategic line 3. Data governance.
1.º Objective: democratize access to data by citizens, companies and public employees, allowing free access to information and its replicability, as well as the use of data for the development of high value-added digital services aimed at the citizen.
Open data platform to democratize access to citizens, companies and public employees.
- All the City Councils have at their disposal the AOC's local open world data platform which is part of the Transparency service. There are currently 40 standardized data sets, with historical information by all local administrations in Catalonia on the most relevant areas of municipal management: budget, procurement, subsidy, staff, etc.
- This platform hosts 200 data sets from local administrations in Catalonia and allows any city council to easily upload its own data.
- This data will be integrated with the datos.gob.es platform and with the European open data portal. (Priority 4)
Datawarehouse (DW) or data warehouse of the digital administration activity of the Catalan administrations.
- This information, conveniently anonymized is available to the Catalan administrations in structured and standardized formats for advanced reporting and analysis.
- This DW is interconnected with a business intelligence (PowerBI) solution in which reports, dashboards, benchmarking (digital maturity index) and predictive reports have been generated.
These services will be integrated within the Cybersecurity Operations Center of the Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia (Priority 1)
Alignment with established priorities
- Priorities 1 and 4
Fulfillment of the defined objectives:
- Bridges the digital divide:
- any city council (regardless of its capabilities and resources) offers an open data platform with the most relevant data sets of its public management
- any citizen of Catalonia (regardless of the municipality where he resides) has access to open and standardized data of the most relevant information of the public management of his city and can consult, download, analyze, compare or perform integrations using APIs.
- Solution reused by 1.250 local authorities in Catalonia
Evaluation indicators
- Nº Conversations, messages and users using the chatbot
- Degree of use indicator
- % Queries or incidents resolved
- Digital gap reduction indicator, usability and accessibility
- Citizenship satisfaction with chatbot
- Citizenship perception indicator that assesses whether their needs or expectations have been met
Target group of the project
- - Citizens, companies, public administrations and entities
3.5 Integrated data platform
2.º Eligible action:
Integrated data platform.
Development of an integrated date platform with lake date of the General State Administration, which will enable interoperable projects between the General State Administration and other public administrations.
All the relevant digital administration activity of the Catalan administrations is integrated with an AOC data platform to facilitate advanced analytics, report generation and dashboards.
From the AOC we will perform the interoperability integrations with the "data lake" of the AGE when it is available and we have the technical specifications. This initiative has not yet been presented at meetings of the Digital Administration Sectoral Committee, attended by representatives of all communities and the FEMP.
This service will be integrated within the Cybersecurity Operations Center of the Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia (Priority 1)
Fulfillment of the defined objectives:
- Promotes transparency and data-driven policy
- Solution reused by 2.250 public entities in Catalonia
Evaluation indicators
- Users of the integrated data platform
- No. of integrated datasets
Target group of the project
- Public administrations
3.6 Cybersecurity
e) Strategic line 5. Cybersecurity.
1.º Objective: to ensure the security of digital infrastructures, communications and services provided by public administrations and to improve their capacities for the prevention, detection and response to cybersecurity incidents.
2.º Eligible action:
Reinforcing cybersecurity.
Development of a project that strengthens the cybersecurity of the various administrations and the services provided to citizens and companies, seeking to strengthen compliance with the National Security Scheme.
The AOC Consortium is promoting the deployment of the services of the Cybersecurity Agency in the local world, which is currently being piloted and is scheduled to be deployed in the local world in 2022. Specifically:
- Cybersecurity portal: information services, training, resources and security service request management portal This portal is now available.
- SOC service: platform in the cloud to have advanced security capabilities that allows you to analyze and filter incoming communications on your and personal devices of Administration staff to prevent potential attacks. This service is being piloted and will be deployed during the first half of 2022.
- CERT service: Support for security incident management. This portal is now available.