Online Procedures Dashboard (FR0042)

Set up an open and participatory dashboard of online procedures
Lead institution(s):
Minister of State for the Digital Sector, attached to the Prime Minister
Other stakeholders:
Ministries offering online services, associations of users
of Public Service, Department for Legal and Administrative Information (DILA)
New commitment
OGP principles with which the commitment is associated:
Civic participation in drafting and assessing public policies
Challenges
The State offers a wide range of services online. With a view to continuously improving the quality of service, the State is committed to publishing the list of procedures that can be done online and to involving citizens in improving them.
Feedback from users and their suggestions for improvement will enable the authorities to tailor the services more closely to their expectations.
Ambitions
This first involves providing users with a dashboard of online procedures, which will also allow them to give feedback on these procedures for the purposes of improving them: make complaints about the procedure, request changes, report malfunctions or omissions.
Furthermore, a mechanism will be set up to help the authorities to take these requests into account. Lastly, this mechanism will ensure that users' opinions are genuinely heeded in the implementation of the digitisation policy priorities.
The road map in detail

Draw up a list of procedures that can be done online with all of the authorities concerned Semester 1 2018
Develop a tool which the authorities can use to add procedures to the online dashboard or update existing procedures Semester 1 2018

Launch an online open and participatory dashboard of State public services for use by civil society Semester 1 2018
Process and share feedback from civil society on online procedures with the ministries and organise the feedback loop to ensure these comments and requests are taken on board Semester 2 2018

13. Set up an open and participatory dashboard of online procedures

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

The State offers a wide range of services online. With a view to continuously improving the quality of service, the State is committed to publishing the list of procedures that can be done online and to involving citizens in improving them.

Feedback from users and their suggestions for improvement will enable the authorities to tailor the services more closely to their expectations.

This first involves providing users with a dashboard of online procedures, which will also allow them to give feedback on these procedures for the purposes of improving them: make complaints about the procedure, request changes, report malfunctions or omissions.

Furthermore, a mechanism will be set up to help the authorities to take these requests into account. Lastly, this mechanism will ensure that users' opinions are genuinely heeded in the implementation of the digitisation policy priorities. [54]

Milestones

13.1 Draw up a list of procedures that can be done online with all of the authorities concerned

13.2 Develop a tool which the authorities can use to add procedures to the online dashboard or update existing procedures

13.3 Launch an online open and participatory dashboard of State public services for use by civil society

13.4 Process and share feedback from civil society on online procedures with the ministries and organise the feedback loop to ensure these comments and requests are taken on board

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 2018

Context and Objectives

In the last decade, the successive governments in France have engaged in digitalizing public services. In 2013, then President François Hollande announced a “simplification shock.” [55] He created new government services to simplify administrative procedures for citizens and businesses, including through digitalization. This ambition was sustained under Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, with a goal to make 100 percent of all administrative procedures digital by the end of the mandate.

Digitalization does not come without its problems. A recent report from the Office of the Ombudsman indicated that many users had filed complaints about the digitalization of public services. It also noted that digitalization should not come with a reduction in physical public services. The ombudsman pointed to the lack of standardization of online procedures, the existence of numerous technical obstacles, and the non-usability of these procedures by disabled people. These difficulties have created an opportunity for private actors to create a commercial platform to give easy access to free public services. [56]

This commitment aims to centralize digital services and involve users in improving digital procedures. In 2018, the Digital Information and Communication system (DINSIC)—the government agency in charge of digital affairs—launched a platform that lists the administrative procedures that have been digitalized. It also lists users’ ratings of the digital procedure (https://nosdemarches.gouv.fr/). These elements should serve as the basis for the activities of this commitment. Government agencies could update the list and access user feedback, and users could comment on existing digital services and procedures that should be digitalized.

The IRM researcher considers this commitment to be relevant to improving civic participation. It allows users to draw attention to problems and suggest changes. Similarly, it can be considered relevant to access to information. It requires the development of a mechanism to gather feedback from civil society.

Overall, this commitment is specific enough to be verifiable. The text of the milestones is, however, relatively vague. They mention “[drawing] up a list” or “[processing] and [sharing] feedback” without any further explanation of where this list can be accessed or how the feedback should be used by the administration. However, exchanges between the IRM researcher and the DINSIC provided more specific information about the list, which is available at the following link: https://nosdemarches.gouv.fr/.

The IRM researcher deems this initiative to have a potential minor effect. The commitment aims to involve users in providing feedback on online services. However, it does not address the concerns raised by the ombudsman regarding the lack of standardization of online procedures, numerous technical obstacles, and the non-usability of these procedures by disabled people.

Next steps

Given that this commitment is already significantly underway, the IRM researcher suggests that it not be carried forward to the next action plan. The government could, however:

• Merge commitments that concern digitalized public services into one commitment with several milestones, and ensure public input on its development to clarify what platforms and procedures already exist and what the digitalization strategy of the government is; and
• Prepare an information campaign about the merged commitment, to reach and involve a wider audience.

13. Set up an open and participatory dashboard of online procedures

Completion: Complete

The Ministry for Public Transformation and Services and the DINUM created a dashboard listing 250 procedures [xlvi] that can be done online. [xlvii] It is coupled with an observatory that monitors the quality and progress of service digitalization. The government self-assessment indicates that 61% of online public procedures offers an opportunity to users to provide feedback on their experience through an “I provide feedback” icon included on the page of the online service.