Exploring eGovernment portals and platforms in multi-level systems

Public administration is traditionally organized hierarchically, with continuous interactions between administrations at different territorial levels forming multi-level systems. These structures vary based on tasks and coordination procedures, with key patterns including cooperation within hierarchies, negotiations in administrative networks, and performance competitions. While multi-level systems can foster innovation and provide space for experimental practices, they can also create lock-in effects that hinder administrative reforms.

Despite the prevalence of hierarchical administrative models in modern states, decentralized units are not merely executing organs that follow central instructions. Instead, both levels operate within a complex network characterized by functional differentiation and opposing power relations.

The concept of Government as a Platform (GaaP) is an advanced governance approach for modern multi-level systems. The core idea is to create central state platforms that provide services and benefits to decentralized administrative levels, such as regions and municipalities, while respecting the constitutionally and legally secured tasks, responsibilities, and competencies of each administrative level.

Scientific research on eGovernment in multi-level systems typically focuses on federal states, such as Germany, Austria and Belgium. However, in a unitary state like Italy, the regional level also plays an crucial role due to its closer proximity to the population.

Italy has made significant progress in developing its eGovernment infrastructure in recent years. The country has collected and digitized population data that was previously managed at the municipal level, consolidating it into a national population register (Anagrafe Nazionale della Popolazione Residente - ANPR). Additionally, the paper identity card has been replaced by an electronic identity card (Carta di Identità Elettronica - CIE), with municipalities still handling the application or renewal process, but the issuance now managed by central state ministries.

Another major national platform is pagoPA, which standardizes and unifies digital payments across all levels of public administration, replacing previously developed digital payment solutions by individual national and local authorities.

The Agency for Digital Italy (Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale) was established to drive the country’s digital agenda forward. This agency provides a variety of services to both the population and businesses.

Italy’s adoption of the GaaP approach was a direct response to the fragmentation and “silo structure” of its public administration. In the past, individual administrative levels were responsible for developing their respective digital services, leading to duplication and interoperability issues at the national level. The new platform approach adresses this fragmentation by providing essential infrastructure, providing services, and setting central standards.

In addition to GaaP platforms, which form the basic digital infrastructure in multi-level systems, eGovernment portals play a central role, particularly at the local and regional levels. These portals aim to establish a One Stop Government at the regional level – offering a single access point for citizens to utilize the services and benefits of the local administration. By leveraging the platform infrastructure, they integrate central government services, such as user identification, to offer bundled and tailored services that directly benefit the local population.

To evaluate the status of eGovernment and Government as a Platform (GaaP) within Italy’s multi-tiered system, an analysis and comparison of regional eGovernment portals were conducted. To ensure consistency across regions, the evaluation focused on the most advanced portal in each region rather than the entire eGovernment landscape. The objective was to identify which regions offer the most comprehensive and technically sophisticated suite of online services, striving towards the concept of One Stop Government.

The identified eGovernment portals were classified into four maturity levels based on the Gartner Group’s four phases of e-government model:

1. Web presence: Basic information and static content are available online.

2. Interaction: Interactive services such as email inquiries and downloadable forms are available.

3. Transaction: Users can conduct fully interactive transactions, such as submitting applications and making online payments.

4. Transformation: eGovernment becomes an integral part of administration, with seamless integration, offering of all sorts of services and reorganizing government functions.

Gartner’s model, combined with the number of services offered, provides a practical way to evaluate eGovernment portals. However, the fourth maturity level – the transformation stage – goes beyond the portals themselves. It represents a fully digital administration where all public services and procedures are integrated. While eGovernment portals play a key role in this process, the broader Gaap approach is what ultimately enables this level of transformation.

By analyzing and comparing the regional eGovernment portals, this study aims to provide a clear understanding of the current state of eGovernment in different regions, identify best practices, and offer insights for future improvements.

The analysis identifies two portals as exemplary models, characterized by their high maturity level and extensive range of services:

1. myCIVIS: The portal of the Autonomous Province of Bozen - South Tyrol, offering 1,126 services, including 182 full online services. The portal supports login throughnational identification platforms (SPID and CIE) and the European eIDAS system.

2. Sportello Unico dei Servizi: The unified service desk of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, providing 759 services, with 53 full online services. Similarly to South Tyrol, Sardinia uses national and European platforms for login and pagoPA for online payments.

Both examples highlight the benefits of autonomy, providing more competencies and resources for implementing eGovernment solutions. However, autonomy alone does not guarantee advanced portals, as other autonomous regions and provinces perform significantly worse in comparison.

The second group includes five regions with technically advanced portals that achieve a high maturity level but offer fewer services:

1. Lombardy: The "Bandi e Servizi" portal.

2. Abruzzo: The "Sportello Digitale Regione Abruzzo" portal.

3. Veneto: The "Portale delle Pratiche, Procedimenti e Modulistica della Regione del Veneto" portal.

4. Apulia: The "Servizi e modulistica" portal.

5. Campania: The "Catalogo dei Servizi pubblici digitali" portal.

These portals offer some full online services and integrate the national identification platforms SPID and CIE. However, they lag behind in terms of the number of services offered.

Another group of regions offers basic services through their eGovernment portals, falling into the interaction stage of Gartner’s model:

1. Trentino: The "Catalogo provinciale dei servizi pubblici" portal.

2. Lazio: The "Regione Lazio" portal.

3. Umbria: The "Umbria Accesso Unico" portal.

4. Molise: The "Servizi" portal.

5. Tuscany: The "Servizi Online" portal.

These portals provide a service catalog with information such as eligibility, deadlines, contact details of responsible offices, and downloadable forms. However, they lack a protected login area for two-way transactions with public administration.

The last group includes regions with rudimentary eGovernment solutions, focusing on central portals that often refer to decentralized individual solutions:

1. Marche: The "Servizi on line" portal.

2. Calabria: The "Portale dei servizi della Regione Calabria" portal.

3. Friuli-Venezia Giulia: The "Portale dei servizi del Friuli Venezia Giulia" portal.

4. Basilicata: The "Servizi on-line" portal.

5. Emilia-Romagna: The "Servizi" portal.

6. Sicily: The "Servizi Informativi" portal.

7. Aosta Valley: The "Servizi" portal.

These portals offer a basic online catalog of services and benefits but lack additional information and documents, such as contact details of responsible offices or downloadable forms. They also do not provide a personal login area for users or a support section.

The analysis and comparison of regional eGovernment portals in Italy’s multi-level system reveal interesting insights. The wide range of services provided at the regional level underscores the importance of a multi-level system within a central state like Italy. This offers potential for future research on multi-level systems, which often focuses on federal states like Germany, Austria, and Belgium.

The identified best practices can also serve as inspiration for regional and local administrations in other countries, especially since Italy is an international leader in eGovernment and the GaaP approach.

The analyzed eGovernment portals highlight the added value of this advanced governance model, which provides central platforms at the national level to offer services and benefits to decentralized administrative units, such as regions and municipalities. Local and regional administrations benefit from these platforms by offering modern eGovernment solutions to the population without having to develop all components themselves. The central state also benefits as a service provider of the platforms, gaining the ability to coordinate and steer subnational administrative units.

Overall, all administrations, along with the population and businesses, benefit from more efficient administration and higher-quality public services.