Evaluation of the EInnsyn Freedom of Information Service (NO0068)

Summary of the commitment

Evaluate the service to find out whether the goals set for the publishing service have been achieved and whether the service is being run and developed in an appropriate manner, including whether the security of the publishing service is adequately safeguarded. eInnsyn is a publicly available online publishing service for public agencies that are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. All citizens, the press and media organisations can search the records anonymously and free of charge and demand access to documents that have not been published. When it was decided to establish eInnsyn as a replacement for the Public Electronic Mail Journal (OEP), four main goals were set for the project: - “Improve security in OEP - Good and rational solutions to ensure data protection - Streamline work processes in public administration - Make public documents more easily accessible to the public” The eInnsyn publishing service should be evaluated based on the goal of the service.

Description of the problem

3. What problems will the commitment solve? • Evaluate whether the service supports the right of access in the Freedom of Information Act. • Evaluate whether the service supports the desire for more full-text publishing. • Evaluate whether the service’s funding model is sustainable and contributes to administrative efficiency. • Evaluate whether the service has efficiency gains for administrative processes related to the handling of access requests. Elaboration: The aim of the Open Government Partnership is to strengthen cooperation between citizens and the public administration because this cooperation is the very foundation of a good society. The OGP is based on the premise that the best way to create a more open, well-functioning and user-friendly administration is open, honest and extensive cooperation between the public sector and civil society. eInnsyn is a publicly available publishing service for public mail journals, meetings and committees. Central government, as well as some county authority and municipal entities, publish mail journals and meeting and committee data on eInnsyn, where citizens can search for and access documents. Public agencies can include a link to full-text published documents in the journal record or meeting to which the document belongs. By making journals accessible, searchable and orderable in one and the same place, eInnsyn makes it very easy for citizens and the business community to demand access to public documents based on the right of access they have through the Freedom of Information Act. The service is unique in a global context. Objective of an evaluation: After several years of operation, the service should be evaluated in terms of whether the service delivers on the goals for the service and whether it is operated in an appropriate and responsible manner. It should be evaluated whether the service is sufficiently user-friendly so that ordinary citizens without additional knowledge about the use of search parameters can find the information. The evaluation can be one of several knowledge bases for a new strategy for eInnsyn.

4. What is the cause of the problem? • The use of eInnsyn is authorised in the Freedom of Information Regulations, but this only applies to the central government sector. The municipal sector is only covered by the provision in Section 7. • It can be very costly for the municipal sector to utilise eInnsyn as a publishing solution. • The solution has been exposed to security incidents on several occasions, and this may give rise to assessments of whether the service should be better protected against such incidents.

Description of the commitment

1. What has been done so far to address the problem? The publishing service has not been evaluated since the start of OEP with regard to how the service delivers in relation to the goals for the service. OEP/eInnsyn has received considerable international attention and positive publicity as the first of its kind, but has never been externally evaluated against its objectives.

2. What kind of solution is proposed? An external evaluation of eInnsyn is therefore proposed. An external evaluation must, among other things, gather feedback and input from representatives from public administration, civil society and the media.

3. What results will be achieved by implementing the commitment? Improvements to the service related to better goal achievement and an appropriate (sustainable) technical and organisational solution for the operation of the service. A possible adjustment of goals for further development and operation of eInnsyn.

Analysis of the commitment

1. How will the commitment promote openness? Contribute to the service continuing to be a good, secure and cost-effective tool for providing access to public documents. Increase confidence that we are managing and further developing the best possible solution. Public authorities have access to a secure and efficient way of ensuring openness.

2. How will the commitment contribute to greater predictability? Improved access to public documents. The extent to which the current solution is geared towards the most user-friendly and comprehensive access to information from public agencies will be examined.

3. How will the commitment improve the opportunity for citizens to participate by publicising, implementing and monitoring the solutions? An evaluated service will give citizens, the media and the press greater confidence that the service will provide the best possible overview of public documents for which access can be requested. A commitment to evaluating the service can make an important contribution to improving the service.

Plan for commitment (Milestones | Expected outcome | Expected completion date)

Start an evaluation: 2023 – 2026 | Receive a report from the evaluation | 2026