Success story Wigo4it
Wigo4it: uniform document, individual identity
Social services in the four largest cities in the Netherlands are working closely together. Certainly where ICT is concerned. By intelligently implementing Aia Software's - ITP Document Platform, services can share documents and templates with each other. This results in high-quality documents and even better service provision.
Social services in the Netherlands have launched an offensive with the aim of improving service provision towards customers. This can be done by reducing bureaucracy and working in a more customer-oriented manner, amongst other things. ICT plays a crucial part in this. The most noticeable initiative in this area is that taken by the four largest Dutch municipalities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague. The social services of this G4 have joined forces to form the cooperation Wigo4it: an acronym for the Dutch words Werk, Inkomen, G4, voor Informatietechnologie, which mean work, income, G4, for information technology. Within the context of the Work and Social Assistance Act (Wwb), the G4's combined social services are responsible for a third of all people entitled to benefits. Wigo4it also provides support in the health-care policy area.
Centralising and standardising
This collaboration, which formally led to the Wigo4it U.A. Cooperative being formed, can be described as unique. No other large municipalities have shared knowledge with each other so closely at such a high level and put their heads together and worked on future-proof ICT. Over 100 people now work for Wigo4it. "Despite the continuing differences between the cities, a large number of processes are similar. Applications and information systems that run in The Hague could be rolled out exceptionally well in the other cities, maybe with just a few minor modifications. We have recently carried out thorough investigations into this and come to the conclusion that a number of programmes can be centralised and standardised. Working together to develop, manage and maintain the technologies that make the service for citizens and the business processes more efficient, provides significant benefits for the G4, in terms of both content and finance," explains Leo Mulkens, ICT manager at Wigo4it. Mulkens is experienced in the Social Affairs and Employment Projects Bureau in The Hague.
Bulk and individual
Amongst other things, the results of the first ICT investigations into the G4 cities have led to the RAAK programme (re-integratie, activering, afspraken en klantenmanagement or re-integration, activation, agreements and customer management), which originated in Amsterdam, also being implemented in Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam. Socrates (SOciale dienst Cliënt Registratie Afhandeling Toekenning Expertise Systeem or social services customer registration settlement award expertise system), which has already been used successfully in The Hague for years, was also delivered in Rotterdam at the end of 2008. The system is scheduled to be implemented in Amsterdam and Utrecht on 1 January 2010. Work started on developing an in-house version of this system at the end of the last century. Little by little, performance is being improved and functionality extended. One of these innovations is the full integration of Aia Software's document creation software, ITP (Intelligent Text Processing). ITP is an integrated solution for large-scale automated generation of standard documents, individualised snippet-based correspondence and dynamic form-based data entry. ITP as a solution is significantly geared towards opportunities for interaction with the user and focuses on allowing employees to edit and manage the content themselves. In ITP, IT activities are separated from the activities relating to the content of the documents as much as possible. Mulkens was also convinced that ITP would benefit his former workplace in the social services in The Hague. "On the one hand of course, we have to deal with a bulk of standard documents that we send to customers, such as benefit statements or decisions. On the other hand, we also communicate with customers directly, so documents need to be personalised for each customer. ITP provides us with a system that is flexible enough to support and optimise both document streams. Using understandable texts and avoiding obscure language makes the documents a lot easier to read for social service's customers. The operation is monitored, business rules are applied and we can use standard text blocks. Where necessary, functional administrators can quickly create new text blocks and adapt existing ones using familiar office applications," says Mulkens.
Individual identity
Investigations have of course been made within Wigo4it into the extent to which the other social services could benefit from using ITP. The investigations focused on Rotterdam, since this is the first city to start using Socrates. Mulkens: "It turned out that 80 per cent of the text blocks, definitions and other material within ITP could be used in Rotterdam without having to change anything. The remaining 20 per cent will need either amending or replacing. For example, the regulations for barge masters do not apply to The Hague, but they do to Rotterdam, of course. This has consequences for the content and processes; new documents will have to be created. One of the benefits that ITP brings is that the output is tailored to each individual service. By establishing all the rules concerning things such as house style, type area, font, etc. just once, the document is given the correct corporate identity automatically. So although employees largely use the same processes, documents and text blocks, individual letters for The Hague and Rotterdam roll out of the printer at the end. Or correspondence takes place electronically. ITP ensures that the correct data and document structure are put together at the end of the process". The conclusion is that Wigo4it does indeed do a lot of work centrally for the four social services, but that this does not in any way mean that the G4 cities speak with one voice. They retain their own character, logos and characteristics and can develop specific solutions and applications with ITP. The employees in Rotterdam notice this now too. Automatic and efficient document creation is indispensable when you need to improve your service provision towards customers. ITP has also received positive reactions in Rotterdam.
Less bureaucratic
As mentioned already, Wigo4it is a unique platform that promotes innovation and cooperation in ICT between the G4 cities, amongst other things. However, this is not a goal in itself, but rather a drive for further modernisation and improvement in the service provision, comments Leo Mulkens. "Aia Software's ITP may be a relatively small addition to the technological infrastructure, but it really does have a high added value. Completely in keeping with Wigo4it, ITP enables us to share knowledge and content. The ITP application management and a large majority of the standard text blocks are centralised, which means costs can be saved. Customers of the services receive the same uniform, unambiguous, clearly formulated decisions". In short, the processes are less bureaucratic. Changes in legislation and regulations can also be directly implemented into existing processes, using a module in Socrates. These changes have direct repercussions on the content of the decisions. A seamless link with ITP enables the users to anticipate the changes. They can adapt text blocks and templates and implement new decisions themselves, without having to rely on IT colleagues. "And partly thanks to Aia Software's proactive approach, we have been able to improve the results across the whole line. We are currently reaping the benefits of that in Rotterdam, where ITP is being rolled out. Because although we are reducing costs significantly, the quality of the output remains our top priority," emphasises Mulkens.
User: Wigo4it, a cooperation between the social services of Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht.
Supplier: Aia Software.
Application: ITP, a method of automatically producing, printing, publishing or emailing business documents with existing data and in accordance with the house style.
Number of users: 700 in The Hague, 900 in Rotterdam and also the employees in Amsterdam and Utrecht in the future.
Main advantages: Increasing quality of service provision towards customers, exchange of documents and templates across the different services, uniform output whilst retaining an individual identity, flexibility in giving direction to the creative process, reduced costs thanks to centralising management.