IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

"The City of Edinburgh Council is undertaking a far-reaching programme of modernisation through innovative use of information and communications technology to achieve its vision for a 'smart city'. This vision is the core of its response to the Scottish Executive's 21st Century Government initiative ot modernise public services. For Edinburgh, its vision is all about people based public services - how customers and the Council connect. It is about changing the way the Council organises and delivers its services to be efficient, effective and customer focussed. Its aim is to use ICT to support delivering all of these services to citizens, businesses and organisations - and be recognised as a leader in delivering modern, joined-up and interactive public service using a wide range of new technology.

The Council's strategic IT 10-year partnership with BT plc provides a solid base for developing Edinburgh as Smart City. BT not only provides IT support services, they are also investing in modernising the way the Council delivers services.

In particular, the Smart City programme will:

• use leading-edge ICT to change the way services behind the scenes (in the "back office") are delivered to improve customer service, productivity, effectiveness and efficiency
• improve information and internal communication to help strategic planning and prioritising resources as well as promote innovative thinking and collaboration (involving Council staff in the process)
• provide the tools and infrastructure to let citizens and community organisations take advantage of the information age and to participate and express their views as part of local decision-making
• deliver new "value-added" services to citizens, visitors and local businesses using leading-edge technology to improve their quality of life, their experience of visiting the city or competitiveness.

The Council is managing a wide range of ICT projects which will help us deliver our Smart City vision. Recent success are:

• an online system to view and bid for available Council housing over the website, through offices or in response to newspaper advertising
• the development of a common housing register for all Registered Social Landlords in the City piloting a 'smart card' for residents which can be used to get a range of services provided by many different suppliers.
• an innovative project join up the planning and building control processes electronically which allows the public and businesses to view and submit planning applications online, with building warrants to follow
• introduction of parking payments by mobile phone.

In order to deliver these projects, the Council is fully aware of the need to address a number of back office changes. Key work involves the migration from mainframe IT systems to create a new environment that will support the implementation of Smart City infrastructure, a council-wide email and intranet platform and a new metropolitan area network which will enhance the speed of data traffic and improve security features.

The Council is providing a lead in the community to enable all citizens and community organisations to exploit information age opportunities. As such, the Council is taking forward a number of initiatives to build a more inclusive environment and to bridge the digital divide. Initiatives include the use of videoconferencing services in public offices, free internet access for the public in the city's libraries and community centres through the People's Network and the launch of the myEdinburgh.org community web portal.

Transformation to a Smart City is fundamentally changing the way the Council operates. To manage the challenges that lie ahead, the Council has in place a human resource strategy incorporating change management.

The Council is also working closely with staff and trade unions from the start and throughout the transformation. These programmes will equip employees with the skills necessary to adapt to their changing work environment and assist with employees who have been affected by the organisational change. They will receive support through re-training, career services, and assistance with redeployment and job search."

Quelle: PublicTechnology, 05.12.2003