Challenge:
The creation of a digitalised administration is the declared goal of all German federal states. It is the basis for genuine E-government, from which all citizens should ultimately benefit. The modernisation of these internal processes is fundamental for a modern administration.
Together with Computacenter, Lower Saxony is working to implement this process successfully. IT Niedersachsen (IT.N), the IT service provider of the Lower Saxony state administration, is responsible for the digital transformation. Computacenter has supported IT.N in planning the gradual introduction of new technologies.
Solution
Computacenter’s extensive experience in the field of local authorities, public institutions and administration has proven to be the key to success in the cooperation with IT.N. Modern mobile device management for the cabinet and all senior officials in Lower Saxony enables secure access to central servers via any smartphone. Together with IT.N, Computacenter has developed the design concepts and provided the necessary infrastructure.
At the same time, Computacenter has implemented a state-wide rollout to convert over 8,000 of the administration’s clients to Windows 8.1. They also collaborated in developing a modular approach to electronic filing, based on the state’s specifications. The new approach differs fundamentally from previous concepts in that it is orientated towards the organisational concept of E-administration.
Outcome:
The PC client, which for the entire administration is standardised on Windows 8.1, can be administered and maintained centrally. This, in conjunction with the software harmonisation and infrastructure standardisation which was carried out, significantly reduces costs compared to the previous heterogeneous and site-specific PC environments. This sub-project has fundamentally optimised the administration’s work.
In addition, all of the state’s mobile employees who use company smartphones and tablets to access the organisation’s network now also benefit from modern mobile device management: using their devices in a way that private users are accustomed.
Finally, the new approach to building a collaboratively oriented E-file will enable the exchange of structured data sets between individual authorities and across state borders – processes that are still unthinkable today.
Mobile computing for efficient administration
From prime minister to head of government, senior employees and civil servants in Lower Saxony have been equipped with mobile devices of their choice within a very short period of time. The selection of smartphones and operating systems from the consumer environment has been made, meeting security requirements as well as the personal work styles of the users.
The solution implemented offers users the best possible ease of use in a secure space and allows them to work securely even when they are on the move.
Users can choose between platforms that have been tested and approved by IT.N and are integrated into the state’s highly secure IT infrastructure. The detailed evaluation of the end-user devices was carried out together with Computacenter. Flexibility and ease of use are preserved so that they match the experience of private mobile devices. Today, every user can edit mail attachments while on the move, browse securely and access their file repositories on the network.
Client rollout for the Lower Saxony state administration
The ‘modern administration of tomorrow’ will be based on up-to-date PC workstations. Together with Computacenter, IT.N has completed a state-wide rollout, successfully on schedule, as part of the so-called Niedersachsen Client Project (NiC).
Around 8,000 computers were equipped with the Microsoft Windows 8.1 and MS Office 2013 operating systems. All workstation PCs were configured centrally by Computacenter and loaded with additional applications based on the requirements of the authority and the individual employee. The organisation and administration of workstations was previously regulated differently depending on the location and users; there was no central management. “Computacenter has developed and installed the right solution for us, including central management. Today, we operate the solution ourselves,” said Rolf Hoppe, Project Leader at IT.N.
The rollout was controlled in real time with the Inventox tool from Computacenter. On the day they chose for the changeover, the employees simply had to hand over their old device and within an hour could continue working on the new PC with their usual applications. With the NiC project, the state administration has reached a milestone in the standardisation and centralisation of its IT infrastructure. “The experience and know-how of Computacenter have helped us to implement the project on time. The same applies to the excellent project management,” said Rolf Hoppe.
The foundation stone for digital administration
As an initial phase of development, together with Computacenter the state is preparing to introduce electronic files, which is the basis for further digitisation in the administration. Like many other federal states, this is how, several years ago, Lower Saxony had envisaged the digitisation of the administration. However, the solutions used at that time, which met DOMEA certification, proved to be too wide-ranging in practice and resulted in an unnecessary additional burden for the administration’s staff.
“Above all, the electronic file requires back-office functions that run in the background while the employees in the administration continue to work in their familiar environment,” said Burkhard Gärtner, responsible for this project at the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and Sport.
The Ministry of the Interior, as the lead agency, decided to use Computacenter’s knowledge of the organisational concept of E-administration and its know-how in the Microsoft environment for the new introduction of the electronic file: “Above all, the comprehensive knowledge of Computacenter when using Microsoft SharePoint to set up a collaboration platform seemed suitable for this project.”
The advantages of the modular approach in digital administration are obvious for Burkhard Gärtner: “For the first time we have achieved consistent IT support for document processing and data exchange. And in future we will avoid the media disruptions that are common today, because we can combine heterogeneous storage locations such as MS Outlook, file servers and the numerous databases from the various specialist processes.
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