Examples of digitalisation

Prof. Dr. Thomas Meuche: “Digitalisation is determined primarily by organisation, not by technology” 

Germany’s public administration needs to become more digital, — a point many citizens fully agree with; since the Online Access Act (OZG) entered into force, the digitalisation of public authorities and offices has even been legally mandated. Nevertheless, there are still problems in many areas. Not only are right technologies lacking, but there is also a need for new ideas and strategies on how to deploy these innovative technologies. The coronavirus pandemic exposed many shortcomings while also giving an important push toward renewal. 

Prof. Dr. Thomas Meuche is programme director of the part-time degree programmes “Digital Administration” and “Digital Economy” at Hof University of Applied Sciences. He trains administrative staff for the digital future and, together with his students, develops new digital use cases for day-to-day administrative work. According to him, demand for suitable digitalisation measures has risen noticeably since the start of the pandemic. “Awareness of the issue has definitely grown,” says Meuche. “And a lot has happened, especially in the public health departments. But this progress was driven less by digital tools and more by the way processes were organised.”For example, clerks were suddenly entrusted with more responsibilities and given new tasks. ”For many of those involved, this was an insight that was almost revolutionary.”

By no means are all German offices and authorities digital laggards. Many organisations already have pioneering projects that show how applying digital know-how can make public administration significantly more efficient.

1. Cloud-based facilities management in the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) 

In Germany, the Bundeswehr manages around 1,500 properties. In concrete terms, this comprises more than 33,000 buildings across an area larger than Saarland. Managing such a large inventory previously meant dealing with extensive paperwork, including building plans and records of maintenance or construction work. New construction projects produced vast quantities of paper among all partners involved, especially architects, planners and the building authority, which had to be laboriously exchanged by hand. The idea for optimising this costly and time-consuming process is a digital collaboration platform that all parties can access simultaneously and where, for example, building plans can be viewed as virtual 3D models. Because the platform runs in the cloud, internal and external staff can work together in real time. Behind this concept is the BIM (Building Information Modelling), which allows all work on buildings to be recorded digitally. The Bundeswehr model not only simplifies the work of staff on site; it could also serve as a blueprint. Other public real estate projects could benefit from this concept as well.

2. Artificial intelligence as a city archivist 

Virtualising city archives is a real challenge. Media such as photos must not only be digitised but also tagged with meaningful keywords so that they can be easily found when searching. Doing this manually is extremely time-consuming. Heilbronn is therefore currently running a pilot project that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline this process. The AI recognises whether an image shows, for example, a dog, a building or a person, and tags them accordingly in the database. The AI system is expected to be able to identify up to 1,500 public figures and around 200 distinctive buildings in Heilbronn and the surrounding area in the images, and could therefore take a great deal of work off human archivists.

3. Karlsruhe: the entire city in a single app 

All of a city’s services in a single app? This ambitious goal is currently being pursued in Karlsruhe. To achieve it, the city’s eGovernment services are to be combined in one app with private offerings, such as zoo tickets or a discount coupon for shopping. Users will then only need to register once, and the app will serve as the interface for municipal and commercial digital services. The launch is scheduled for October 2021.

Digital twin: What the public authority of the future looks like 

Pilot projects such as those in the two Baden cities and in the Bundeswehr are a step in the right direction. However, a fully digital public authority still does not seem to be within reach. In labs, though, it will soon be a reality: as part of its “Competence Centre for Digital Administration”, Hof University of Applied Sciences is currently developing the digital twin of a German public authority to demonstrate what can be achieved with the right strategy and suitable technologies. The digital twin is intended to serve as a showroom and testbed for interested representatives of public administration. 

“The problem is often that the administration is looking for solutions it does not know about,” says Prof. Dr. Meuche. “Using the digital twin, organisations can load anonymised data in a safe environment and simply experiment. That is not possible in real-world operations. This allows us to demonstrate, by example, how structural change can be achieved through digital solutions. It’s about staff, processes and the technologies themselves.” 

It was only in March 2021 that the university’s Competence Centre was presented to the public. Since then, enquiries from public authorities have been piling up for Prof. Dr. Meuche and his colleagues. State authorities, police headquarters and municipalities all want to seek advice on successful digitalisation. “We want to provide concrete support in improving processes and highlighting solutions,” explains Prof. Dr. Meuche. “At the moment, for instance, we are working with a state museum. We get feedback like this: ‘This is amazing! We had no idea this was possible. But it’s exactly what we need.’” 

The digital maturity model highlights weaknesses 

In addition to the digital twin, Hof University of Applied Sciences has developed a special maturity model. Using a dynamic online questionnaire, staff at the respective institution first answer questions about the current level of digitalisation in their organisation. This is not only about the use of technologies but also, for example, about whether there is an overarching digitalisation strategy and the extent to which senior management supports staff through changes. This allows weaknesses to be identified quickly. The university’s Competence Centre then works with the participating organisations to develop appropriate measures and a concrete roadmap for improvements. 

“The maturity model also helps to determine where public authorities stand within their individual departments,” says Meuche. “It quickly becomes apparent that there is indeed extensive know-how, but often at lower organisational levels. I can see it in my students who work in public authorities: there is innovative potential, a drive, and it’s incredible. These are exactly the people we need to tap into and rely on.” 

The dream of the digital public authority depends, on the one hand, on the use of the right technologies and, on the other, on the mindset of staff. Pilot projects and digital twins for public authorities therefore not only set benchmarks for successfully working with new applications,they may also provide the best motivation for decision-makers to finally tackle digitalisation themselves.