Institutional and Technological Upgrading of Transparency Program (GR0012)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Greece Second Action Plan for 2014-2016
Action Plan Cycle: 2014
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction
Support Institution(s): Information Society SA
Policy Areas
Access to Information, Open DataIRM Review
IRM Report: Greece End-of-Term Report 2014-2016, Greece 2014-2015 Progress Report
Early Results: Marginal
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): Low
Implementation i
Description
Promotion of transparency and accountability, through the improvement of the legal framework and the enhanced application of process transparency in public administration. This is the second phase of the project, and it is called Transparency Program II.
The main interventions needed pertain to the institutional and technological enhancement of the current (governmental) Transparency Program project:
• Compliance and uniform application of regulations regarding the institutional strengthening of the published document. This will ensure that the unique number given to each document (and not the document itself or its printed version) will be sufficient in referencing, using and handling, throughout the public sector, without the need of additional validation or signing.
• Substantial improvement of the website user interface, including additional search functionality, improved usability and enhanced accessibility, and compliance with the WCAG standard (version 2.0, level AA).
• Addition of electronic communication channels among citizens, businesses and public administration, in order to submit comments and discuss the published documents (using the user’s account in publishing documents or user accounts on social media e.g. Google, Facebook, etc.).
• Provision of personalized content and search results.
• Improvement of open data provision mechanism, in machine readable formats, aiming to enhance interoperability. Use of open data from governmental audit mechanisms. Implementation of applications for the monitoring of the administrative actions from all interested parties.
• Enrichment of the information provided by Transparency Program, with clear categorization based on the government agencies and using additional public sector data sources (human resources, e-procurement, income etc.). This way a wider system for information provision will be created, available to the public. A separate subsystem will be designed, addressing the need of public administration bodies to draw business intelligence reports on public administration functioning, expenses and to support decision making.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
Commitment 1.1. Transparency Program upgrade
Commitment Text:
Promotion of transparency and accountability, through the improvement of the legal framework and the enhanced application of process transparency in public administration. This is the second phase of the project, and it is called Transparency Program II.The main interventions needed pertain to the institutional and technological enhancement of the current (governmental) Transparency Program project:
Compliance and uniform application of regulations regarding the institutional strengthening of the published document. This will ensure that the unique number given to each document (and not the document itself or its printed version) will be sufficient in referencing, using and handling, throughout the public sector, without the need of additional validation or signing.
Substantial improvement of the website user interface, including additional search functionality, improved usability and enhanced accessibility, and compliance with the WCAG standard (version 2.0, level AA).
Addition of electronic communication channels among citizens, businesses and public administration, in order to submit comments and discuss the published documents (using the user’s account in publishing documents or user accounts on social media e.g. Google, Facebook, etc.).
Provision of personalized content and search results
Improvement of open data provision mechanism, in machine readable formats, aiming to enhance interoperability. Use of open data from governmental audit mechanisms. Implementation of applications for the monitoring of the administrative actions from all interested parties.
Enrichment of the information provided by Transparency Program, with clear categorization based on the government agencies and using additional public sector data sources (human resources, e-procurement, income etc.). This way a wider system for information provision will be created, available to the public. A separate subsystem will be designed, addressing the need of public administration bodies to draw business intelligence reports on public administration functioning, expenses and to support decision making.
Milestones – Timescales
1.1 Issue of instructions and guides on the application of the new pertaining legislative framework and the new pertaining information system (October 2014).
1.2 Complete integration and operation of public bodies in the new Transparency Program (December
2014).
1.3 Conduction of study and gradual promotion of actions enriching the data provided from other data sources of the public sector. Target being the centralized, correct, information provision for a variety of issues; including expenditure, revenue, personnel etc. The study will be initially drafted by MAREG in collaboration with stakeholders - owners of complementary data sets and will be finalized after consultation with NGOs and civil society organizations working in the field (study June 2015, gradual implementation June 2016).
Responsible institution: Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction
Supporting institution(s): Information Society SA
Start date: October 2014 End date: June 2016
Commitment Aim:
In Greece, transparency policies have focused on providing online access to information regarding government actions and decisions. Making information publicly available online serves as a condition to validate government plans and implementation. This commitment builds on the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program launched in October 2010, requiring all government institutions to publish decisions on a transparency portal before they may be considered for implementation. Its aim is to promote transparency and accountability, through the improvement of the legal framework and the enhanced application of Transparency (Diavgeia) Program processes in public administration. The commitment seeks to achieve the following actions:
● Provision of instructions and guidelines for adopting the new interface of the Transparency Program and the implementation of the new legislative framework;
● The complete integration of public bodies into the new interface of the Transparency Program; and
● A study reviewing the promotion of the Transparency Program using data from various public sector sources.
Status
Midterm: Substantial
The government introduced legislative acts and issued guidelines to implement effectively the second phase of the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program. The Openwise IRM research team found that these documents are available online and easily accessible for the public. The new interface of the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program platform is currently operational. However, government bodies have yet to adopt fully all the capabilities of the new interface. According to a member of the OGP government team, there is no data to indicate the degree to which public entities beyond the Ministry of the Interior use the ADA (Number of Internet Uploads) as a document referencing system, although daily observation suggests additional public entities use ADA.[Note 1: During emails discussions with the the Openwise IRM research team, officials from the Department of Open Government, Transparency and Innovation within of Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction say that they have empirically observed that the use of the identification number among public agencies is on the rise.]
The Openwise IRM research team found that the government substituted participation in the European project, YourDataStories, for conducting a study on government- provided data. The European project is a collaborative effort regarding creative use of open data to tell stories. The government expected that the results from this project would substitute the study planned in the original commitment text.
End of term: Substantial
Greece issued guidelines and integrated agencies in the program by midterm review; there were no outstanding actions for this commitment other than the utilization of the YourDataStories project results. However, during a meeting with the OGP interministerial group, the Openwise IRM research team found that Greece aborted this milestone. Government officials stated YourDataStories was an independent, European-funded project that did not specifically serve the promotion goals of Diavgeia: specifically study and promote increasing data provided from public sector sources.[Note 2: Although data sets stemming for the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program are mentioned in the ‘use cases’ section of the Your Data Stories project, officials from the Ministry of Interior and Administrative reform said at an electronic interview that completing this project did not help the completion of the commitment. ]
Did it open government?
Access to information: Marginal
This commitment attempts to improve the functionality of the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program. The commitment was designed to enhance the institutional framework that legally supports the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program as well as to upgrade the technological platform to improve functionality. The implementation of this commitment within the 2014-2016 period had a marginally positive impact upon the Diavgeia program. Under new institutional framework, new types of organizations, like NGOs, are now legally required to upload annually cumulative information regarding their budgetary operations on the transparency web portals. Also, the government introduced the new Transparency Program with improved search facilities and better tools for public employees when uploading information. These tools provide easier access to the wealth of information displayed on the platform. However, the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program platform’s effect on opening government is limited; some information, such as certain government actions regarding financial decisions, is exempt from the rules of the program. This could set a precedent for future data exemptions, thus reducing overall transparency.
Carried forward?
The third Greek NAP does not carry forward the Transparency (Diavgeia) Program. The majority of IRM’s midterm suggestions are still relevant not only for earning “complete” status but also for designing a more ambitious and impactful Diavgeia commitment for future action plans. For example:
● Revise the current amendment allowing exemptions for certain governmental bodies to exclude specific decisions from publication on Diavgeia. Future legislation should create strict guidelines regarding the exemption of decisions from publication.
● Investigate specific applications of the “targeted transparency” concept across a select number of policy challenges. For example, data could be extracted from Diavgeia on areas such as health spending and summarized in a visualization that would enable stakeholders and the general public to design and implement policy solutions.
● Create an impact map for the Diavgeia program that defines concrete applications that promote better access to information, meaningful participation, and accountability. Deploy the above applications in an agile manner, e.g. a hackathon or an open innovation contest.