User Orientation (NO0045)

Background: Better knowledge of the user's situation and experience of public services can make the services more accurate, relevant and effective. The government therefore wants, as part of the priority area "A simpler daily life for most people", that the public administration shall work more user-oriented. Status quo or problem/issue to be addressed: The public administration shall be more user-oriented than today Main Objective: A simpler daily life for most people. Brief Description of Commitment (140 character limit): Instructions (called "common routing") from the government to all ministries: In all award letters to government enterprises, the ministries shall include an instruction that the enterprise shall, among other things, survey the users’ perception of the enterprise (refer also to "Ambition"). Ambition: All state agencies shall: a) Survey how the users perceive the enterprise b) Assess the results of the survey c) Optionally initiate actions to follow up on a) and b) d) Report on the outcome of a) - c) in the Annual Report for 2016 The "Users" can be citizens, the voluntary sector, labour and business interests, local government, other government agencies or other sections of the enterprise, including politicians. Whoever is considered the "user” can therefore vary. Further details are provided in Circular no. H-14 / 2015.

1. User orientation

Commitment Text:

Background: Better knowledge of the user's situation and experience of public services can make the services more accurate, relevant and effective. The government therefore wants, as part of the priority area 'A simpler daily life for most people', that the public administration shall work more user-oriented.

Status quo or problem/issue to be addressed: The public administration shall be more user-oriented than today

Main Objective: A simpler daily life for most people.

Brief Description of Commitment: Instructions (called 'common routing') from the government to all ministries: In all award letters to government enterprises, the ministries shall include an instruction that the enterprise shall, among other things, survey the users’ perception of the enterprise (refer also to 'Ambition').

Ambition: All state agencies shall: a) Survey how the users perceive the enterprise b) Assess the results of the survey c) Optionally initiate actions to follow up on a) and b) d) Report on the outcome of a) - c) in the Annual Report for 2016 The 'Users' can be citizens, the voluntary sector, labour and business interests, local government, other government agencies or other sections of the enterprise, including politicians. Whoever is considered the 'user' can therefore vary. Further details are provided in Circular no. H-14 / 2015.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Local Government and Modernization

Supporting institution(s): The Ministries and all government enterprises

Start date: 1 January 2016 End date: Not specified

Context and Objectives

The Ministry of Local Government and Modernization (KMD), in 2015, instructed all ministries to ensure their underlying state enterprises carry out user surveys for the fiscal year 2016. Before 2016, 50 percent of state enterprises carried out such end user surveys.^{[Note: Difi report 2017-11.]} The commitment further instructs the ministries to require state enterprises to report back on user survey results and measures undertaken to the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi).

As this commitment aims to improve public services by obtaining public feedback, it is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation. The objective is clear, and the commitment text contains verifiable activities on how state enterprises should carry out user surveys. If fully implemented, this commitment could contribute to increasing the number of state enterprises collecting user feedback, and, as such, would be an incremental step to improving user-orientation of the public sector.

Completion

At midterm, this commitment is substantially implemented. Ministries have published a dedicated website with the list of award letters and annual reports from underlying government enterprises.^{[Note: Two examples are KMD (see https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokument/dep/kmd/tildelingsbrev/id522666/), and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (see https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokument/dep/asd/tildelingsbrev/id750471/).]} A random sample of award letters and annual reports indicates that award letters provide instructions for carrying out user surveys. The annual reports checked also refer to the results of these surveys.^{[Note: See, for instance, page 34 in the Annual Report for 2016 from the Norwegian Work and Welfare Directorate, available at https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/ccfdb1de77a04e41ad4989825a70e315/arsrapport_2015_arbeids_og_velferdsdirektoratet.pdf.]}

According to the Difi report published in December 2017, approximately 50 percent of the reporting state enterprises referred directly to the 2016 award letter instruction, while the remaining 50 percent argued that such end user surveys were already being carried out on a regular basis. At face value, this implies a (major) positive step toward increased end user orientation in those state enterprises that did not do it regularly prior to the action plan.^{[Note: The IRM researcher received this report several weeks ahead of official publication to be able to assess the work done under this commitment. Difi report 2017-11 is available in Norwegian at https://www.difi.no/rapport/2017/12/hva-er-status-brukerrettingen-i-staten-na. ]} The report indicates that some state enterprises may have misunderstood the meaning to be establishing new ways of facilitating end user surveys, rather than using existing channels to identify and systematize findings.^{[Note: Difi report 2017-11, pp. 34-35.]} A stakeholder often involved in end user related meetings with a major Norwegian state enterprise was not aware of the award letter instruction.^{[Note: The Norwegian Association for Retirees, which often meet with NAV, the Norwegian Welfare Directorate. Telephone interview with General Secretary Harald Olimb Norman, Norwegian Association for Retirees, 15 December 2017.]} The survey results seem to be useful, and, according to the ministerial point of contact, this will be scaled up in a planned government white paper on innovation in the public sector.^{[Note: Telephone interview with commitment PoC, Senior Advisor Ola Grønning, KMD, 1 December 2017.]}

The government’s self-assessment refers to a short delay in which Difi was granted a new deadline for compiling its report; the report was later submitted by the new deadline. The report was not referred to in the commitment text, though it appears to have been the most valuable tool in assessing it. It is an achievement in providing better oversight on how the commitment has been carried out across sectors and in state enterprises.

Next Steps

State enterprises carrying out regular user surveys is important to stakeholders.^{[Note: Ibid.]} One way to scale this up is to involve end users at an earlier stage in the process of gauging how public services could be improved. It is recommended that:

The government, as part of the planned white paper, identify best practices among state enterprises’ user orientation.

From 2019 onward, in their awards letters, government ministries instruct state enterprises to involve end users at an early stage to improve user orientation.

1. User orientation

Commitment Text:

Background: Better knowledge of the user's situation and experience of public services can make the services more accurate, relevant and effective. The government therefore wants, as part of the priority area 'A simpler daily life for most people', that the public administration shall work more user-oriented.

Status quo or problem/issue to be addressed: The public administration shall be more user-oriented than today

Main Objective: A simpler daily life for most people.

Brief Description of Commitment: Instructions (called 'common routing') from the government to all ministries: In all award letters to government enterprises, the ministries shall include an instruction that the enterprise shall, among other things, survey the users’ perception of the enterprise (refer also to 'Ambition').

Ambition: All state agencies shall: a) Survey how the users perceive the enterprise b) Assess the results of the survey c) Optionally initiate actions to follow up on a) and b) d) Report on the outcome of a) - c) in the Annual Report for 2016 The 'Users' can be citizens, the voluntary sector, labour and business interests, local government, other government agencies or other sections of the enterprise, including politicians. Whoever is considered the 'user” can therefore vary. Further details are provided in Circular no. H-14 / 2015.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Local Government and Modernization

Supporting institution(s): The Ministries and all government enterprises

Start date: 1 January 2016 End date: Not specified

Commitment Aim:

In 2015, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization (KMD) instructed all ministries to ensure that their underlying state enterprises carried out end user surveys for the fiscal year 2016. Prior to 2016, only 50 percent of state enterprises carried out such surveys. This commitment aimed to improve public services by obtaining public feedback, as well as following up and reporting on outcomes.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

At midterm, this commitment was substantially implemented. A random sample of award letters and annual reports indicates that award letters provide instructions for carrying out user surveys. The survey results seem to be useful and an important first step to improve user orientation. For more information, please see the 2016–2017 IRM midterm report.

End-of-Term: Substantial

A report published by the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) in December 2017[Note1: Difi report 2017-11 (in Norwegian), https://www.difi.no/rapport/2017/12/hva-er-status-brukerrettingen-i-stat... ] surveyed all annual reports (from 171 state enterprises) and found that all but seven instruction letters mentioned the instruction to carry out end user surveys, and that 84 percent of state enterprises have carried these out. Among those that have not carried out surveys, the majority have less than 50 employees and are related to areas such as conflict resolution and the judiciary.[Note2: Ibid., pp 4-5] Difi has not disclosed findings from specific end user surveys, but individual state enterprises have assessed the results of their surveys and reported to their funding ministry. The Difi report indicates that the commitment is implemented to a substantial degree.

Did It Open Government?

Civic Participation: Marginal

The commitment as implemented has been an incremental yet positive step in terms of providing opportunities to the public to influence development of services. Since the results of user surveys have not been publicly disclosed, it is unclear what specific feedback has been received, what measures have been taken to follow up and how it has changed overall service delivery. According to Difi’s assessment, findings from end user surveys are now better integrated and, to an increasing degree, taken into account in the development and management among state enterprises.[Note3: Ibid., p 25] At face value, this implies a positive step toward increased end user orientation in those state enterprises that did not do it regularly prior to the action plan.

At the time of writing this report, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization has noted that the results of this commitment are feeding into the government strategy for digitalization of the public sector, with a strategy document expected in the first half of 2019.[Note4: According to commitment PoC Ola Grønning, Ministry of Local Government and Modernization, email to IRM researcher, 10 October 2018.]

Carried Forward?

This commitment will not be carried forward into the fourth action plan.