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Greece

Implementation of platform for central distribution of public open data (GR0016)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Greece Second Action Plan for 2014-2016

Action Plan Cycle: 2014

Status: Inactive

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction

Support Institution(s): NA

Policy Areas

E-Government, Open Data

IRM Review

IRM Report: Greece End-of-Term Report 2014-2016

Starred: No

Early Results: Marginal

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

Within the context of the implementation and operation of the Greek Government G-Cloud Datacenter, a new central site will be implemented for gathering, storing, disposing and searching open data and linked open data. It will consist of the open data portal data.gov.gr serving citizens and businesses for data retrieval, the website submit.data.gov.gr serving authorized officials in documenting, describing and disposing open data, and a set of specialized tools that through published APIs will deliver all necessary interoperability services for extracting information from systems, devices, applications and third party platforms. Thus the platform will (automatically) collect through standardized processes data generated from the IT systems of public bodies, and will make it available to citizens and businesses.

IRM End of Term Status Summary

Commitment 2.3. Central open data platform

Commitment Text:

Within the context of the implementation and operation of the Greek Government G-Cloud Datacenter, a new central site will be implemented for gathering, storing, disposing and searching open data and linked open data. It will consist of the open data portal data.gov.gr serving citizens and businesses for data retrieval, the website submit.data.gov.gr serving authorized officials in documenting, describing and disposing open data, and a set of specialized tools that through published APIs will deliver all necessary interoperability services for extracting information from systems, devices, applications and third party platforms. Thus the platform will (automatically) collect through standardized processes data generated from the IT systems of public bodies, and will make it available to citizens and businesses.
Milestones –Timescales
The milestones and implementation timescale have as follows:

•       2.3.1 Signing of the implementation contract (July 2014)

•       2.3.2 Implementation Study completion and commencement of pilot phase of the platform (November 2014)

•        2.3.3 Roll-out of the platform with all the available open data sets (June 2015)

Responsible institution: Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date:   June 2014            End date: June 2015

Commitment Aim:

A common issue in information access policies is creating a web platform to act as a central open data repository. The Greek government had created an initial version of a central platform as of 2013. This commitment aims to take the experimental version of the national open data web platform to a new, fully operational level. The goal of the new data.gov.gr portal is to establish standardized, automatic collection processes for data generated from public IT systems and make this data available to citizens and businesses.

Status

Midterm: Limited

At the midpoint assessment, Greece had completed only one out of three commitment activities. The new version of the data.gov.gr website (Milestone 2.3.3) was up and running during the midterm progress report period. The only missing feature of the platform was a tool that would facilitate the automatic, direct uploading of data from public agencies. However, Greece had not yet begun Milestones 2.3.1 and 2.3.2 regarding the signing of a contract, implementation study and pilot phase. The government altered both Milestones following delays that resulted in transitioning the platform development to in-house resources and expertise. As of the midterm, the contract signing was rescheduled for April 2016.

End of term: Substantial

Based on the discussions between The Openwise IRM research teams and government officials during the interministerial OGP government group, the data portal is still pending the automatic uploading feature that would facilitate the immediate publishing of datasets from public agencies. According to the public employee who was responsible for the in-house development of data.gov.gr, the Ministry of Finance has attempted to use the application program interface (API) in order to produce the automatic uploading functionality. Also, the government has published the annual report that evaluates the overall implementation of the open data policies.[Note 12: The annual report is available here: https://diavgeia.gov.gr/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/%CE%95%CF%84%CE%AE%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%88%CE%BA%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B7.pdf.] Beyond stating the importance of open data, this document emphasizes the need to encourage more agencies to publish their data by employing promotional actions and planning cooperation with academic and research centres. Given that data.gov.gr website is essentially operational and a steadily increasing number of agencies are publishing their data and information, The Openwise IRM research team conclude the overall completion level of this commitment is substantial.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Marginal

This commitment intended to address the lack of a central online repository in which public agencies could provide their data in appropriate, machine readable formats. Greece expected the revamped data.gov.gr to rectify this deficiency by providing a central platform for public agency data. As a result, a growing number of public agencies provided datasets and information to the website. However, despite the growing number of agencies publishing diverse data (limited only by national security and personal data considerations), there lacked an increase in data quality. The Openwise IRM research team and CSOs concluded problems remain mainly with the quality of datasets in terms of available formats and the actual utility of the released public data.[Note 13: Email discussions held during the midterm report with Theodoros Karounos, Vice President of Greek Free Open Source Society and Spyros Athanasiou, researcher, Athena research Center.] Advanced uses of the data, such as developing applications, is hindered by the fact that many datasets are not machine readable. Potential utility of the released data remains low in many cases where agencies publish hyperlinks that bring users to announcements of textual information on their websites instead of accessible datasets.[Note 14: Some of the most recent examples of this practice can be found at “Tables fines items,” data.gov.gr, http://data.gov.gr/dataset/pinakes-stoixeiwn-epiblh8entwn-prostimwn/resource/6b2fc6d8-e045-4be0-bf9e-ff740b087c54 and at “Popular Register – File Procedures,” data.gov.gr, http://data.gov.gr/dataset/dhmotologio-arxeio-diadikasiwn/resource/e5887576-c4af-4428-af4e-a6ac7477ebdb.] While quantity remains an issue given the small fraction of participating agencies, CSOs are more concerned with data quality.[Note 15: “Interministerial OGP” (interview, Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction, 31 Aug. 2016).] Thus, The Openwise IRM research team conclude this commitment’s implementation had only a marginal effect on opening government.

Carried forward?

The third action plan does not carry forward this commitment. This omission might be due to the fact that the central online platform data.gov.gr is operational and experiencing steadily increasing numbers of publicly available open datasets. A future action plan should focus on targeting open data commitments to address civil society concerns about the quality of released data.

Greece's Commitments

  1. Framework law on Open & Participative Governance

    GR0031, 2016, Capacity Building

  2. Participation in the Assessment of the Public Sector

    GR0032, 2016, Capacity Building

  3. Publicity of Organisational Charts & Entities of the Public Sector

    GR0033, 2016, E-Government

  4. Accountability and Settlement of Disputes between the citizens and the Public Sector

    GR0034, 2016, Legislation & Regulation

  5. Guide and Standardization for the provision of Services & for Procedures per Service/entity

    GR0035, 2016, Capacity Building

  6. Improvement of the open deliberation procedure

    GR0036, 2016, Capacity Building

  7. National Register of Line Managers of the Public Administration (Register)

    GR0037, 2016, Capacity Building

  8. Implementation of the assessment of employees and services and control methods

    GR0038, 2016, Capacity Building

  9. Implementation of a System for the Selection of Managers

    GR0039, 2016, Capacity Building

  10. Digital Repository for Pubic Administration Studies

    GR0040, 2016, Capacity Building

  11. Provision of Open Cultural Data

    GR0041, 2016, E-Government

  12. Geospatial Maritime Data

    GR0042, 2016, E-Government

  13. Ship/Company and Seafarer Registers

    GR0043, 2016, E-Government

  14. Marine and Maritime Activity

    GR0044, 2016, E-Government

  15. Starred commitment Public Property Open Data

    GR0045, 2016, E-Government

  16. KPI’s for the implementation of Public and EU Financed Projects

    GR0046, 2016, E-Government

  17. Data and Statistics for Greek National Exams

    GR0047, 2016, E-Government

  18. Protocol Digitization

    GR0048, 2016, E-Government

  19. Informative Actions on open data for young people in Secondary and higher Education

    GR0049, 2016, Education

  20. Open Education

    GR0050, 2016, Capacity Building

  21. Provision of open data for Justice

    GR0051, 2016, E-Government

  22. Enhanced statistical data of justice open to the public

    GR0052, 2016, E-Government

  23. Open provision of Geo-data

    GR0053, 2016, E-Government

  24. Open-Participatory Budget

    GR0054, 2016, Fiscal Transparency

  25. Regional Council Platform (Open Regional Council)

    GR0055, 2016, E-Government

  26. Open - Participatory Budget

    GR0056, 2016, E-Government

  27. Capture and Evaluation Platform for Regional Technical Projects

    GR0057, 2016, E-Government

  28. City Dashboard

    GR0058, 2016, E-Government

  29. Online Consultation Platform

    GR0059, 2016, E-Government

  30. Open Data Index for cities and local administrations

    GR0060, 2016, E-Government

  31. Linked, Open and Participatory Budgets

    GR0061, 2016, E-Government

  32. School of data for public servants

    GR0062, 2016, Capacity Building

  33. The collaborative wikification of public services procedures

    GR0063, 2016, Capacity Building

  34. Strengthening openness and accessibility of the Parliament

    GR0064, 2016, Capacity Building

  35. Institutional and technological upgrading of Transparency Program

    GR0012, 2014, E-Government

  36. Public participation in decision making

    GR0013, 2014, Capacity Building

  37. Integration of PSI Directive on the re-use of public sector information

    GR0014, 2014, E-Government

  38. Regulatory amendments for the management and provision of open data

    GR0015, 2014, Capacity Building

  39. Implementation of platform for central distribution of public open data

    GR0016, 2014, E-Government

  40. Provision of open geospatial data

    GR0017, 2014, E-Government

  41. Provision of open cultural data

    GR0018, 2014, Legislation & Regulation

  42. Provision of open data for offshore companies

    GR0019, 2014, E-Government

  43. Open provision of Public Sector critical data sets

    GR0020, 2014, E-Government

  44. Open invitations for filling posts in the public sector

    GR0021, 2014, E-Government

  45. Public administration organizational chart publication

    GR0022, 2014, Capacity Building

  46. Coordination and monitoring of Open Government policy

    GR0023, 2014, Audits and Controls

  47. Reorganization of inspectorate bodies and strategic alliance development against corruption

    GR0024, 2014, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  48. Tracking changes on bills (from submission to voting by Plenum)

    GR0025, 2014, E-Government

  49. Usability and functionality improvements of the ‘Parliamentary Transparency’ section of the Hellenic Parliament website

    GR0026, 2014, E-Government

  50. Improvement of the Hellenic Parliament Website and implementation of new standards-technologies

    GR0027, 2014, E-Government

  51. Provision of historical parliamentary documents to the public

    GR0028, 2014, E-Government

  52. Enhancement of Social Media Policy in the Hellenic Parliament

    GR0029, 2014, E-Government

  53. On line provision of Exhibitions

    GR0030, 2014, Capacity Building

  54. Increase number of legislative acts going through online deliberation

    GR0001, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  55. Capitalize on citizen comments and suggestions

    GR0002, 2012, Public Participation

  56. Operate central e-procurement information system

    GR0003, 2012, E-Government

  57. Operate central ERP information system

    GR0004, 2012, E-Government

  58. Operate central HRMS information system

    GR0005, 2012, E-Government

  59. Open data regarding prices, as collected by Prices Observatory

    GR0006, 2012, Open Data

  60. Resolve legal issues regarding state geo-data

    GR0007, 2012, Land & Spatial Planning

  61. Offer additional taxation data

    GR0008, 2012, Fiscal Transparency

  62. Augment functionality of the Transparency Program

    GR0009, 2012, E-Government

  63. Publicise Public Sector procurement information

    GR0010, 2012, E-Government

  64. Enable open, transparent and safeguarded document circulation

    GR0011, 2012, E-Government