E-Estonia and e-Cabinet

Hanoi 18 July 2018

Hannes Astok
Deputy Director, Strategy & Development

+372 5091366
Hannes.Astok@ega.ee
 Hannes Astok
• 2011 - eGovernment expert,
Deputy Director,
e-Governance Academy
• 2012-2013 Advisor of the
President of Estonia
• 2007-2011 – Member of the
Estonian Parliament
• 2005 - Programme Director,
Municipal and Regional
eGovernance, e-Governance
Academy
• 1998-2005 Deputy Mayor,
Tartu City Government
 Estonia
• Population: 1.257 million
• Area: 45,200 km2
• Population density: 31 inhabitants per km2
• Urban population: 69%
• Rural population: 31%
• Birth rate: 10,29 per 1 000 residents
• Mortality rate: 13,69 per 1 000 residents
• Capital City: Tallinn, 430,000 residents
• GDP per capita: 17,661 USD (2015)
In 1991 Soviet Union collapsed…
…and also the economy.
 Estonia 2018
• European Union champion in Digital
services
• EU No 2 – Quality of Public Services
• No 1 – Tax Competitiveness (WB)
• No 12 – Ease of Doing Business (WB)
• No 21 - Anti-Corruption Index (TI)
 General benefits
• Trust towards the government
• Easiness to do business
• Very low corruption
• Easy digital life for the citizens
• Change of the new digital generation
How to get there?
Start now!
 Analog and digital elements of e-Government

ANALOG ELEMENTS DIGITAL ELEMENTS

Legislation & regulations Digital databases
Sustainable organization Interoperability
Change management Digital Identity
Political will Document exchange
Services portal
Cyber security
Sectoral solutions
Where is the bottleneck?
 Strong Portal &
Digital Secure Data
Identity Exchange
Digital Data
Online versus Offline
Time
Time spent on e- Time spent on offline
Service savings
service (min) service (min)
(min)

Establishing a 30 510 480

company
VAT declaration 7 68 61
Tax declaration 10 78 68
i-Voting 6 44 38

In minutes. Source: e-Estonia.com

Digital Databases-
Data Online
 Strong Portal &
Digital Secure Data
Identity Exchange
Digital Data
 Governmental
interoperability
Governmental Secure Data
Exchange Solution
X-Road in Estonia
• Backbone of the Estonian government
• 15 years of active duty, no downtime from
2002
• 1500+ services
• 900+ connected organizations, public
registers and databases
• 350+ million transactions per year
 Document
Population Vehicle Other
Exchange Energy Telecom Banks
Register Register Register Centre
X - GIS

Adapter Server Adapter Server Adapter Server Adapter Server Adapter Server Adapter Server Adapter Server Adapter Server

Security Server Security Server Security Server Security Server Security Server Security Server Security Server Security Server

X-Road Internet Network

Security Server Security Server Security Server

Central Central Adapter Server

PORTALS TRUST Server 1 Server 2
e-Health, e-Police, e-Tax Board, SERVICES Admin
e-School, m-Parking, etc.
Central Monitoring System of
Certification State
Public OCSP Information
Citizen Enterpriser
e-ID view
servant
view Timestamping Help Desk System
view
 Principles
• Decentralized architecture
• No single point of failure
• Personal data protection
• Logging and timestamping of the
transactions
• Legal value of the request and answer
 Strong Portal &
Digital Secure Data
Identity Exchange
Digital Data
Governmental service
portal
www.eesti.ee
(Eesti=Estonia)
 Strong Portal &
Digital Secure Data
Identity Exchange
Digital Data
Digital identity
Peter Steiner, The New Yorker, 5th July 1993
Digital ID and
Signature
Since 2002
Active ID-cards: 1 298 560
Active Mobiil-ID: 172 983
Active Smart-ID: 829 751
Active Smart-ID in Estonia: 203 116
Source: http://id.ee/en?id=30468,
Transactions yesterday: 958 284 3 May 2018

Transactions last month: 22 046 803

ID-card
since 2002
1st national document
Public e-services (e-Tax, e-Prescriptions
etc)
Applying for driver license, social benefits
E-elections
Signing documents
Accessing grades and curriculum @
school
Bank transactions
Register a new business
Customer identification card, Bus ticket
mID
(in SIM card)
Doesn’t need software installed on
PC
Doesn’t need web browser support
Works on any handset
Can be supported by any operator
mID
since 2007
Bank transactions
i-Voting
Signing documents
Applying for driver license, social
benefits
Filling tax returns
Accessing grades and curriculum @
school
Register a new business
etc
mID
Trusted by the Government
170 000+ users (05/2018)
25 M transaction in a year
30 transaction per
user/month
300+ e-Services
Efficiency
Digital signatures
save 20 minutes per
transaction
World Bank World Development Report
2016
Any benefits from eID and digital
signature?
5 working days saved by every citizen
who is using eID
It is 2% of working time
It is 2% of GDP
(2% of GDP goes for defense)
17.02.2020
 Statistics
2006: 0,5 million digital signatures
1 million digital autenthications
2010: 19,2 million digital signatures
33,7 million digital autenthications
2012: 31,9 million digital signatures
49,9 million digital autenthications
2016: 79 million digital signatures
102 million digital autenthications

Up to today: 500 million digital

 Cost-Profit Calculators
Up to today: 500 million digital
signatures
People and companies have saved
more than 1 billion € (2 € per signature)
Actual savings may be greater:
http://eturundus.eu/digital-signature/
http://eturundus.eu/digital-document/
 Cyber security
• Complex issue: mixture of digital and
analog elements
• Roles and responsibilities in the
govenment
• Technical measures
• Behavior of officials
• Awareness of the citizens
Key analog elements
 Supportive legislation
• Keep it simple!
• Digital signature- same value as handwritten
signature
• No need to define every service delivery
channel
• Legal meaning of the digital data
• Do not describe technology in the law
 Sustainable organization
• Horizontal coordination of the e-
government activities
• Coordinator: Ministry of Economic Affairs
and Communication
• Clear roles and responsibilities with
resources for all stakeholders
 Change management
• It is not transfer of the services from
paper to computer, it is re-inventing of the
public services
• Changing officials mindset: new skills and
competences needed
 Political will
• To secure long-term changes, political will
and leadership is required
• Consensus among the main political
forces in the Parliament
• High priority in the parties and
governments political agenda
 Strong Portal &
Digital Secure Data
Identity Exchange
Digital Data
 Key success factors
• Sustainable organization
• Change management
• Re-engineering of the government
• Public support & demand
• Political will
Estonian Government
Decision-Making
Procedures Information
Systems
Composition of the Government
There can be up to 15 members of the Government.
Currently there are 15:
the Prime Minister and the ministers of ..
• Education • Finance
and
Research • Internal Affairs
• Justice • Social Protection
• Defence • Health and Labour
• Environment • Foreign Affairs
• Culture • Entrepreneurship
• Economic Affairs and Information
and Technology
Infrastructure • Public
• Rural Affairs Administration
 There are 11 ministries:
• Education • Agriculture
and • Finance
Research • Internal
• Justice Affairs
• Defence • Social Affairs
• Environment • Foreign
• Culture Affairs
• Economic Affairs
and
Communications
Some characteristics about Estonia
• Parliamentary state
• Coalition government
• Principle of consensus within the
Government
- strong tradition on the Cabinet level;
- strong emphasis also on lower levels
 e-Consultation and e-Cabinet
Two information systems (IS) are administered by the
Government Office:
• e-Consultation:
- procedures before a draft is submitted to the Government (public
and inter-ministerial consultations, submissions)
- open system (officials and the general public)
• e-Cabinet:
- used for Government sessions
- closed IS (ministers and officials)
Process Flow and Information Systems
(2) E-Consultation

(1) A Ministry - public consultation (if needed)

prepares a draft. - inter-ministerial consultation
- announcements

(3) The final draft is (9) The draft law is The draft law is processed
submitted to the submitted to the in the Parliament’s
Government. Parliament. information system.

A draft law is
submitted to the
E-Cabinet
Parliament.
(4) Review, compilation and editing.
A legal act is sent
State Gazette
(5) Preparation of the agenda, briefings, for publication. Electronic publication.
preparatory meetings.

(6) Official agenda, ministers’ remarks

A letter is sent to
(pre-session voting).
another institution.
(7) Government session.
A decision is stated Use of a digital
signature or
(8) Finalization and communication of In the minutes of the
stamp.
Decisions. session.
 Advantages
of ID-card / mobile ID
• Security ↑
- information
systems
- documents
• Speed ↑
• Costs ↓
Why Was e-Cabinet Needed?
From the Government Office’s perspective:
While we used paper documents:
1) Movement of information was slow;
2) Occassional disorder of documents;
3) Most of the agenda items were discussed;
4) Government meetings were too long (4-5
hrs).
What Did e-Cabinet Change?
After the introduction of e-Cabinet:
1) instant movement of information;
2) documents/information are well
organised;
3) Government meetings are shorter (1-30
min);
4) much more preparation => very few
agenda items are discussed.
 Lessons Learned
1) Not just software, but processes: many
(proven) practices have to change.
2) New questions emerge and have to be
answered (digital archiving, data protection,
user’s rights etc).
3) No information system is an island: it has to
work together with others.
 Lessons Learned
4) One vs many: too many information
systems may become a major issue.
5) Keep it simple!
6) Influence of visible success stories: if the
Ministers do, everybody should.
Future of the online
governance
Estonia
 Mr. Hannes
Astok, your
driving license
will expire.
Can we mail
you new?
Government
Yes No
Estonia
 Thank you!
Your new
driving
license will be
mailed to
your home
address.
OK
Estonia
The future government is
Proactive
Online
24/7
Intuitive
Vietnam can!
Thank you!

Hannes Astok
www.ega.ee
+372 5091366
Hannes.Astok@ega.ee