Can e-government solutions enhance the work in municipalities? Empirical evidence from case Lupapiste. Academic Mindtrek 2016 presentation. Jari Jussila and co-authors: Timo Lehtonen, Virpi Sillanpää, Nina Helander & Julius Kallio.

1. Can e-government solutions
enhance the work in
municipalities? Empirical
evidence from case Lupapiste
Jari Jussila1, Timo Lehtonen2, Virpi
Sillanpää1, Nina Helander1 & Julius Kallio3
Tampere University of Technology, Solita &
University of Tampere

2. 16.10.2016 2
Lupapiste service development started as a part of Action Programme on eServices and
eDemocracy (SADe programme) set by the Ministry of Finance in Finland
Case Lupapiste “Permission Desk”

3. Aim of the study: Internal Effectiveness &
Efficiency (IEEE) and Enhancement of
Knowledge Work
16.10.2016 3
B2G
G2B
G2B
G2C
G2G
IEEE
Municipality
Other
municipalities
Citizens
Businesses
Solita
e-Government
service
provider
Source: see Scholl et al.
(2009) E-Commerce and e-
Government: How Do They
Compare? What Can They
Learn From Each Other?

4. Investigated Metrics
• Throughput time is often used as an indicator of
value, where the quicker it goes the better is the
result, this is not, however, always the case in
services, as humans have also indirect needs.
• Flow efficiency has been defined as the sum of
value-adding activities in relation to the
throughput time. In measuring flow efficiency,
the needs dictate what the value-adding
activities are and therefore what flow efficiency
is.
16.10.2016 4
Source: Modig, N. and Åhlström, P. 2012. This is lean: Resolving the efficiency
paradox. Rheologica.

5. Research Approach
• Data from Lupapiste • Interviews
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Municipality Roles of interviewees Number of
interviews
Hyvinkää Building inspector
Secretary, customer service
1
1
Kuopio Engineer, construction permit
Secretary, supervision of
building
1
1
Vantaa Director, supervision of building
Secretary, supervision of
building
1
1
Sipoo Manager, supervision of building
Secretary, supervision of
building
1
1
Mikkeli Leading building inspector
Office secretary
1
1
Usage data converter: https://github.com/timole/sopernovus
Operative data converter: https://github.com/timole/sopernovsa

6. Insights from the Interviews
• Ability to process applications 24/7 wherever
internet connection is available increased
flexibility of work by enabling flexible working
hours and remote work
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Efficiency
Increased flexibility
- Application
processing 24/7
- Remote work
Applicant
Authority

7. Insights from the Interviews
• Time savings related to printing activities were
considerable for municipal employees, since
printing large plans that was required before
digital service, is time consuming and also costly
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Efficiency
Cost savings
- Time and cost
savings of printing
- Declined amount of
customer visits as
personnel can reply
to questions online
and customers can
see the status of
their applications
online

8. Insights from the Interviews
• Increased ability to utilize resources, especially building
inspectors had more time to focus on their core tasks
• E.g. productivity improvement of 65% in application
handling (with the same amount of personnel) in one of
the studied municipalities.
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Efficiency
Productivity
improvements
- No need to search
for (or locate) paper
files
- Reduction of
information
asymmetries
- Improved
information
ergonomics

9. Measured lead times in
municipalities
Municipality Approved
applications
Distinct
operations
Average
lead times
Median
lead
times
Municipality A 730 41 77 57
Municipality B 55 17 57 46
Municipality C 1600 39 69 56
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10. Measured median flow
efficiencies in municipalities
Municipality and
operation
2014 2015 2016
Municipality A ground
source heat 38 32
Municipality B ground
source heat
Municipality C ground
source heat 45 54 57
Municipality A small
houses
43 45
Municipality B small
houses
40
Municipality C small
houses
44 44
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11. Discussion and conclusions
• The main factors increasing the knowledge work
productivity were increased flexibility of the work,
possibility to concentrate on the core work,
information transparency and time savings due to
digitalization of the application process.
• Flow efficiency calculations together with the median
times used to process the applications provide new
indicators for evaluating the efficiency improvement from
digitalization.
• The most significant improvements in efficiency were
achieved in municipality that was the most active in use
of e-Government service. 100% digital provides the best
results.
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