Digital Bureaucracy
Government production is based on bureaucracy. Yet, as the classic bureaucracy is challenged by a shift from paper-based to digitized information, the shift also offers transparency, significant productivity gains, and more efficient service delivery.
Based on Danish public-private partnership and extensive research we have developed a fundamentally new approach to government digitization based on formalized methods and standards. Digitizing all types of work processes and services, from internal to citizen-facing, it is based on executable process libraries and a new combined process-driven and data-centric software architecture designed for digital bureaucracy.
The approach is based on three elements: a formalized model and an implementation method for government work, which are both independent of technology, and standard software called F2, which supports the model and method. We offer government institutions a fast track to transforming themselves into next-generation, highly efficient, and digitally based institutions.
We believe government work is still based on the fundamental principles of the bureaucracy
Technology trends and a limited understanding of how government works often hinder digitization and lead to technology-based business transformations where technology itself almost becomes the goal.
However, while technology continues to change, government roles and duties remain. Rather than investigating new technology, research focused on studying the processes and resources enabling government service delivery, as well as understanding the nature of government work and the bureaucracy.
This led to a generic model for government work based on best practices independent of technology, referred to as “Digital Bureaucracy”. Based on a model for digital bureaucracy, we then designed and built standard software, which can be configured to support individual authorities. In parallel, we developed a deployment method to guide the design of specific internal and citizen-facing processes and to guide the internal organizational implementation.
The research also made it clear that government has to reclaim the ownership and insight into their work processes. Ownership and insight which during the last decades have been buried with IT systems, often controlled by external experts and suppliers. In the same way that government must be in control of the organization and be responsible for service delivery, government should also control their work processes.
From IT-centric to business-centric while delivering measurable effects
The processes' first approach does not only allow government to reclaim and take back control of work processes. By introducing the digital bureaucracy model it also enables a new fast track approach to digitization.
Based on standards and configurable standard software, the approach reduces digitization projects by factors. While minimizing risks and reducing costs, it changes digitization projects from being IT-centric to business-centric.
Reclaiming control is managed in two steps. Firstly, regaining control of work description, as this is now independent of systems. Secondly, regaining control of production systems.
As the description is formal, i.e. based on mathematics and thereby readable by software, government can now demand vendors to deliver software that can interpret and execute the process description. Thereby, government no longer loses control while it acquires, rewrites, and integrates software components to digitize and support work processes.
Get inspired
Unique to F2 is the concept of process templates. A process template describes a specific government process end-to-end, from citizen-facing self-service to case processing and filing.
Technically, a process template is a declaration, which is stored in the F2 process library, and linked to a case type. A process template is open source and can be re-used simply by copying the template and adjusting it.
cBrain has delivered many different solutions, supporting processes across areas like family life events, social affairs, tax, certifications, HR, grants management, and inspections.
Maybe you can re-use an F2 process template as fast track for your next IT project. Get inspired... have a look into our solution gallery.