First experiences with the new module of the transparency portal “Political organization of the City Council” (1/3)
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Since last April 8, the transparency portals have two new modules which make it easier for citizens to improvela visualization of the political organization of the Consistory I la interpretation of economic management indicators of the town councils.
After the first few weeks, the portal already has more than a dozen very interesting experiences. So, this is the first of three publications with which we will show you some examples of practical application of the module “Political organization of the Consistory” hoping that they will serve as inspiration for you to move forward.
Module "Political organization of the City Council"
The activation of this new module improves the navigability, usability and quality of the information of the transparency portals. The module is deployed in the cover environment of the transparency portal and in the Institutional and organizational Information family.
Developed in collaboration with the Transparent Governments Network and the UAB Communication Laboratory (Infoparticipa Seal), this module requires the City Council to parameterise and activate it.
Then, and through different examples of councils we will show results of the different parameters starting from the main page of the portal, and following the set of items subject to improvement (portfolio, governing bodies and functions, political groups, elected officials, managers and eventual).
1. Main page of the portal
All the entities that have the new module "Political organization of the Consistory”Have it integrated just below the transparency families and also if you go into the detail of the Institutional and organizational Information family. We leave you with the example of the result for Llagostera City Council:
It facilitates:
-See in a very clear way the composition of the council. With the possibility of highlighting who holds the Mayor's Office (with photo included).
-Save through the detail of all the information of elected, managerial and eventual positions, as well as know the municipal political structure (portfolio).
-Consult the data of municipal elections (1979-2019) and be able to download them.
And when we open the link to the history of elections, all the information from the first democratic city council to the present day is displayed in an agile and fast way, and can be downloaded in open data format:
For the councils that use the transparency portal, the municipal portfolio is an automatic item that is nourished by the source of the CIDO (Barcelona Provincial Council). By activating it we can automatically obtain the link to the publication of the portfolio in official newspapers.
Image of the portfolio item with automated font:
Although this information is very valuable, -especially because we can have it automatically-, it is worth noting that its interpretation is complex, especially for citizens.
With the new module "Political organization of the City Council" the information is much clearer and more understandable, and above all the public can have an updated "photo" of the municipal organization.
This is the example of Castellar del Vallès City Council (piloting us in this project), which has structured the portfolio in different levels:
It facilitates:
-Manage a portfolio structure up to three levels. In this case: areas, councils with coordination and councils.
-Access to the specific detail of information of each council.
-The interaction from the council with the specific information of the elected office.
The detailed information of the council allows to consult aspects like the contact, competitions or schedules, and allows to navigate until the elect position responsible for the same and to consult its file:
3. Other senior positions and charges: profile, contact details, remuneration and activities and assets
For the councils that use the transparency portal, the item “Senior positions and eventual positions: profile, contact details, remuneration and activities and assets” is a manual item that allows the information to be structured in a drop-down format.
The new module has taken a step forward and improved the visualization and its relationship with other items, such as municipal groups. We have also put a lot of emphasis on the possibility of incorporating all those managerial or eventual staff.
A great example of the work of parameterization of this item is what Castelldefels City Council has done:
It facilitates:
-Quickly see the information of the elected according to the Municipal Group.
-Access to the specific detail of information of each elect.
-Know the published information of the managerial and eventual personnel.
Castelldefels has carefully described the profile of the elected officials and all the managerial and eventual staff. Entering the detailed description (for example of the Mayor) includes aspects such as the public agenda, the declaration of activities and assets, the resolutions relating to the declarations of activities, assets and interests of senior officials, salaries… Or your professional and political resume.
And so far the first publication (1/3), with the detail of municipal experiences using the new modules "Political organization of the City Council" and "Indicators of economic management". In the next post we will know other councils that have been advancing in the parameterization of the items "Governing bodies and functions" and "Municipal groups".
