Budget Data Visualizations in Schleswig-Holstein (DE0056)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? The public sector is often accused of lacking transparency and efficiency in the way it handles taxpayers’ money. Many people find the absolute figures that are communicated publicly, often in the millions or billions, difficult to put into context. Abstract percentages are also not always conducive to better understanding. For many people, it is hard to see how the taxes that they contribute to the budget relate to the services that the public sector provides. Even though all data about budgetary incomings and outgoings are published, this is still all too often done in the form of stark printouts, hidden in PDF documents or, the best-case scenario, as open data sets – which, however, only experts can deal with. Despite this trans- parency, therefore, it is still very time-consuming for members of the public to understand what their taxes are being spent on.

What is the commitment? Schleswig-Holstein will set up an online platform on which budget data will be presented to the public in easy-to-access interactive formats. Alongside typical diagram visualisations, a “per capita breakdown” is also planned in which users can see their own theoretical share in particular budget areas (such as education or coastal protection).

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? These easy-to-access interactive visualisations of budget data will give members of the public the opportunity to gain a comprehensive picture of how their (tax) contributions are used. The inclusion of certain municipalities will contribute to better understanding. This will provide an objective basis for discussions about the supposed wasting of taxpayers’ money and a tool for members of the public, the media and other stakeholders to, for example, swiftly check the veracity of false claims.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? This project will enhance transparency about the use of public funds. Easier access to budget information will mean that the budget decisions of those in government at the Land and local levels will come under scrutiny from a larger number of members of the public. Criticism of (budget-related) decisions will consequently be based on data and facts and serve to strengthen democracy in Schleswig-Holstein.

Additional information: Schleswig-Holstein open data portal (in German): opendata.schleswig-holstein.de Schleswig-Holstein Open Data Act (Offene-Daten-Gesetz) (in German): http://www.gesetze-rechtsprechung.sh.juris.de/bssh/document/jlr-OpenDataGSHrahmen/part/X

Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable | Start date - Implementation by

Definition of format for transmitting local-authority annual financial statements and budgets | July 2023 - September 2023

Definition of machine-readable standard; capacity for automated feed-in of local-authority annual financial statements and budgets | September 2023 - Early 2024

Initial version of visualisation | 1st quarter of 2024 - 2nd quarter of 2024

Final version of visualisation | 3rd quarter of 2024 - 1st quarter of 2025

Action Plan Review

Commitment 13. Visualization of municipal and Land budget data

Commitments 12–14: Linked Open Data

Berlin Senate Department for Finance (Commitment 12) and State Chancellery of Land Schleswig-Holstein (Commitments 13 and 14)

For a complete description of the commitments included in this cluster, see Commitments 12, 13, and 14 in Germany’s 2023–2025 national action plan: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Germany_Action-Plan_2023-2025_June_EN.pdf.

Context and objectives

Linked open data (LOD) forms the foundation of effective digital government and enables a vast array of new use cases. [90] LOD involves assigning stable Uniform Resource Identifiers to the data and connecting datasets. LOD enables analyses across different datasets, therefore reducing the burden of administrations, academics, and civil society in compiling composite datasets. Germany lags in LOD and open data generally. [91] Open data practices diverge significantly across municipalities. Some larger cities proactively share their data and have created open data portals, but most cities do not. [92] The legal framework surrounding open data also differs between the Länder, but nowhere is disclosure of open data a legal requirement. The latest progress report on open data of the Federal Government (2019) highlights several shortcomings of the open data framework: many administrations are not sharing more data, open data is not integrated early on in changes of technical or organizational procedures, and most administrations not being aware of use cases. [93] Open data has been a part of Germany's previous OGP action plans, but civil society has criticized the lack of an overarching strategy.

The three commitments of this cluster will advance LOD within Schleswig-Holstein and Berlin. Schleswig-Holstein will work towards sharing all their data as LOD (Commitment 14) and develop a visualization tool for budget data in cooperation with Berlin (Commitment 13). To that end, both Länder will jointly develop the semantics to share their budget data as LOD. This means developing a standardized terminology to describe the data to enable linkage between datasets. Berlin will share their budget data as LOD and document its experience of linking budget data and experience sharing with Schleswig-Holstein (Commitment 12). This could be seen as a first step towards a wider adoption of LOD, which is also one of the goals of Berlin’s open data strategy passed in 2023. [94] Both Länder worked with civil society to develop the activities under their respective commitments before their inclusion in the action plan. [95] Berlin has also worked with civil society in developing their recent data strategy. [96] Schleswig-Holstein hosted data dialogues (“Datendialoge”) to identify the priorities of academia, civil society, and businesses in developing their approach to open data. In both cases, stakeholders identified LOD as a priority. Cooperation between Schleswig-Holstein and Berlin emerged out of personal contact between the two implementing officers, established by a member of civil society.

Potential for results: Substantial

LOD can enable new standards of digital government in Germany and set the foundations for cooperation between civil society and public administration. Effective open government in Germany requires cooperation at the subnational level to create workable solutions for the use of data at scale. The commitments were clustered, as they constitute clear steps in the direction of wider LOD use and provide a leading example of cross-Länder cooperation. Taken as a whole, this cluster has substantial potential for results. Schleswig-Holstein sets an ambitious target of publishing all their data sets as LOD. This commitment will lead to a sustained increase in the accessibility and reusability of open data, backed by the additional goals of coordinating their release of budget data with Berlin and ensuring usability through a data visualization tool. The benefits of LOD on a larger scale hinge on the adoption of common terminologies to enable linking data sets. The cooperation between Schleswig-Holstein and Berlin could serve as an example for Länder.

Good data management enables administrations to work efficiently in an evidence-based manner. [97] At the same time, sharing open government data in usable formats makes it easier for citizens to understand administrative practices and hold governments accountable. As the commitments for Schleswig-Holstein promise to work towards linking all their data sets, there are significant gains expected in digital government. The expected cooperation with municipalities could also be important. While cooperation will be voluntary, Schleswig-Holstein provides the technical infrastructure (“Kommunales Informationssystem”) which enables local administrations to conduct new analyses on their data and provide use cases. This is important because many administrations are unaware of use cases for their data outside the administration [98] and open data is often perceived as an additional burden.

For Berlin, the commitment mainly serves as a pilot for LOD. The potential of this commitment hinges on its integration into a wider strategy towards LOD. Budget data as LOD, especially in a form interoperable with Schleswig-Holstein’s data, increases the accessibility and reusability of open data within one important area. More substantial improvements in open data in Berlin will require learning from this case and expanding it to other areas. The commitment text promises that the experience will be documented and serve as examples for a future expansion of LOD. The milestones of this commitment however do not specify the process or goals of this expansion, limiting the potential for results of this commitment.

Opportunities, challenges, and recommendations during implementation

The main challenges for open data are lack of knowledge and resources, fragmented approaches between the Länder and lack of political rewards for projects outside of public attention like the effective digitalization of administrative practice. To be effective, Länder need to cooperate and commit to long-term strategic plans and build competences. The commitments of this cluster tackle several of these challenges and have a clear potential to act as role models for future improvements in LOD in Germany. In future OGP action plans, other Länder could include more commitments for ambitious open data reforms like the proposals by Schleswig-Holstein. The IRM recommends the following steps: