User Orientation in Central Government Administration
Historical archive
Published under: Jagland's Government
Publisher: Planleggings- og samordningsdepartementet
Report | Date: 05/09/1997
User Orientation in Central Government Administration
A description of the user orientation programme of the Norwegian Ministry of National Planning and Coordination
Ministry of National Planning and Coordination
June 1997
Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Why this pamphlet?
- Summary
- Why is this programme necessary?
- Central government information policy and user orientation have the same objectives
- Does the government administration have users?
- User orientation shall be a key value in the administration
- Main points in the user orientation programme for the
administration
- 1 The agencies shall produce results
- 2 The relationship between individual users and the administration has high priority
- 3 The responsibility for user orientation and service applies to all parts of the administration
- 4 User orientation as an objective and quality management as a tool
- 5 Government agencies shall establish specific quality objectives
- 6 Service/performance declarations when this is of importance to users
- 7 Government agencies shall be evaluated on the basis of how they deal with their users
- 8 Measures to improve user orientation are a continuous process
- 9 User orientation, quality and information technology (IT)
- References
Preface
In this pamphlet the Norwegian Ministry of Planning and Coordination presents its views on how the administration can improve the quality of service provided to users.
The pamphlet is not a detailed «cookbook» for ways in which government agencies can improve their responsiveness to users. Information on methods and techniques may be found, for example, in the Norwegian Directorate of Public Management's special brochures on user orientation and on performance/service declarations in central government administration.
The Ministry of Planning and Coordination has three overriding objectives for the further development of Norway's central government administration. It shall be possible to manage the administration politically, it shall be efficient and it shall be oriented towards users, i.e. to the extent possible by providing users with the services they need and want.
Listening to users and what they say is nothing new for central government administration in Norway. The initiative for user orientation found in this pamphlet and other pamphlets such as those from the Directorate of Public Management, is therefore based on a tradition in Norway's central government administration.
The purpose of this pamphlet is to emphasize that this work has political priority and to present some specific examples of how the administration can strive to achieve this important objective.
A key point in this pamphlet is that user orientation and service in the administration are not only a responsibility of those assigned the task of providing services or who have many individual users. State services and the execution of tasks are the final product of a vast number of individual decisions which involve the participation of many institutions and levels in the administration. The Ministry therefore considers it important that ministries and directorates assume responsibility for the service they provide.
June 1997
Ministry of National Planning and Coordination
User Orientation in Central Government Administration
A description of the user orientation programme of the Norwegian Ministry of National Planning and Coordination
The administration does not have customers, but let us treat
those we deal with as if they were
Danish «administrative saying»
Introduction
When he made a statement on administrative policy in the Storting (Norway's parliament) in 1996, the Minister of Government Administration declared that the time was ripe for a user orientation programme in central government administration.
He wanted a transparent administration which had a dialogue with users by carrying out systematic user surveys, which established specific quality objectives for its work and which provided declarations to its users as to what they could demand and expect of the administration (known as service or performance declarations) when this is of importance to users. The Minister also emphasized that the administration shall be an organization that learns from user feedback and which is constantly trying to improve.
He underlined that the responsibility for improvement rested with the agencies themselves. A user orientation programme shall inspire the administration to give priority to user orientation and provide government agencies with the assistance necessary to achieve specific results.
Why this pamphlet?
This pamphlet provides an overall description of the Ministry of National Planning and Coordination's user orientation programme for central government administration. Emphasis has been placed on designing the programme on the basis of established political objectives and the special situation of the administration.
The pamphlet presents the approach to administrative development underlying the programme and describes the key elements in the strategy and the objectives of the programme. The pamphlet also tries to show how some key elements in quality assurance and quality management can be used to achieve the objective of improved service for users of the administration.
The pamphlet also refers to some specific examples of how the administration can work to achieve the objective of good relations with users.
Summary
The aim of the Ministry of National Planning and Coordination's user orientation programme is to encourage the administration to take its users seriously, apply user assessments as an important basis when the agency is looking for its weak points and when the agency is planning and establishing priorities. User orientation shall be a key administrative value.
The agencies themselves are responsible for improving their service. The Ministry of National Planning and Coordination shall participate by devising tools for attaining specific results, creating networks of agencies to achieve learning and setting a good example.
This strategy has been chosen so that the agencies shall deal with the special problems identified by users and find solutions that are adapted to the agency's objectives, functions and other framework conditions. The solutions arrived at by the agencies will therefore also differ. A common feature, however, is that a response shall be found to the problems indicated by users.
The agencies shall establish internal quality objectives which show what is considered satisfactory work in the agency. When the agency is certain that it has achieved its quality objectives, it shall make these objectives public in service or performance declarations. These shall show users what they can expect of the agency with regard to, for example, waiting time for replies. However, such declarations shall not be guarantees that can provide a basis for legal action against the agency.
The question of how users perceive the agency, whether it has backlogs, whether there are long and uncertain waiting periods shall be a key dimension in the ministry's management of subordinate agencies. Good service and high quality shall be a requirement for public managers.
Framework conditions, such as rules and budgets, may serve as an impediment to providing good service and achieving improvements desired by the agency.
The agencies must nevertheless place emphasis on achieving improvements within these limits. Making all improvements dependent on e.g. additional employees and an increase in the budget means that we disregard what is possible within the existing limits.
Why is this programme necessary?
Consideration for users and an emphasis on service and timely and swift processing are nothing new for Norwegian central government administration. The aim of the Freedom of Information Act and the Public Administration Act, for example, is to make government administration more transparent and to ensure that key administrative values such as objectivity and legal protection pursuant to the law are taken into account.
Improving conditions for users has also been the goal of measures such as the devolution of decision-making authority and resources, skills development, a simplification of routines and printed forms, emphasis on improving front-line staff service and providing satisfactory information. User surveys aimed at revealing how users perceive the agency are now a fixed routine in many agencies.
The Ministry wants the administration to build further on these experiences with regard to improving conditions for users.
The Ministry of Planning and Coordination wants the administration to
- have a dialogue with its users
- place as much emphasis as possible on user preferences, demands and evaluations when the administration is establishing its priorities and deciding how it shall work
- make use of some of the elements found in quality management and quality assurance to improve the service
- have user orientation and quality as central values along with other key administrative values.
In order to achieve these overriding objectives, the Ministry wants the administration to
- carry out user surveys
- apply the results of these surveys as the basis for planning and the priorities established by agencies
- establish quality objectives which can be measured to determine whether they have been achieved
- present users with service declarations (declarations concerning the service users can expect) in areas that are of importance to users. Such declarations indicate how the agency will deal with its users with an emphasis on relevant factors, e.g. maximum waiting time for processing applications and letters and other waiting periods
- have a system and an organizational culture which makes it possible to learn systematically from experience. Such learning is necessary to achieve a continuous improvement of quality in the work carried out by the agency
- use IT to provide better service to users.
User orientation in the administration naturally does not mean that cases presented by users shall always be approved. Nor does it mean that the administration shall only attach importance to users' viewpoints. The time used for administrative procedures shall not be so swift that it results in unsatisfactory work.
Experience shows that it is not only important for users that the time used for administrative action is brief, but also that the agency can indicate how long it will take, not just «as soon as possible» or «we cannot really say just how long».
The key objective of user orientation in the administration is therefore that agencies deal with their users properly and swiftly, and communicate in plain language with those in contact with the administration.
Central government information policy and user orientation have the same objectives
The Norwegian Government has adopted a new, state information policy which is presented in the Ministry of Planning and Coordination's pamphlet «State information policy - Main principles» from 1994.
Five main principles are applied in this policy, and among these it is the principle of coherence, the principle of communication and the principle of active information that place greatest emphasis on the relationship between the administration and users.
The principle of coherence entails that information from the administration shall emerge as coordinated for users. The principle of communication places emphasis on a dialogue between the administration and users, not a monologue. The principle of active information entails that the central government shall have a dynamic approach in its information and not just reply to questions received.
The information policy and user orientation programme are two sides of the same coin. Common to these is the objective that central government administration places decisive emphasis on users' views, that it must have active two-way communication with its surroundings and be in a position to make use of feedback to improve.
The principle of coherence in information policy is the basis for several projects in the administration that have the aim of reducing the negative effects of a public administration that is divided into levels and agencies in a way which may make it difficult for users to gain an overall picture. Pilot projects involving public service offices (PSO), a kind of one-stop-shop solution, are an important example of measures which will improve this situation. The same applies to the public Internet-based service ODIN (Public documentation and information in Norway).
Efforts aimed at identifying the weakest points of an agency and better solutions shall be based on user evaluations and reactions. Key instruments in this connection are user surveys and other ways of obtaining user feedback. Such feedback is only possible when the agency has a dialogue with its surroundings as required by the key principle of communication. The administration will also attach importance to establishing fora where the administration and users can meet.
The principle of active information means that central government agencies are under the obligation to be aware of the information required by the population and actively satisfy this need with dynamic information measures. Similarly, an administration with a user orientation must be active in order to improve its relations with users and not just respond to acute problems.
Does the government administration have users?
The government administration must accept the fact that is has users if it is to place emphasis on having a good relationship with them.
It is not easy for all parts of the administration to see who is directly aware of the agency's activities, accept that «users» are the correct designation for these citizens, organizations and enterprises they are in contact with, and that the agency's objective shall be to satisfy these users.
And there is undoubtedly a considerable difference e.g. between a ministry and an agency such as the labour market administration or the social security administration. The ministry will, quite rightly, emphasize its role as secretariat for the political management of the ministry and its responsibility for the management of subordinate agencies. Users may be viewed as an alien concept.
On the other hand, employees in local offices in the labour market administration, social security administration, health services or schools have close contact with users every day, and the employees know how important it is for users that they are dealt with properly and swiftly by the agency.
Nor is it easy to think of «users» for those agencies which place emphasis on their administrative role. The fact that an agency has this function, however, does not mean that it can place less emphasis on how it deals with users. On the contrary, the requirement concerning satisfactory information, timely treatment and deadlines is even greater when the state exercises its administrative role than when it provides services. All elements in the contact between an agency with management functions and its surroundings must be correct and satisfactory. Doing things right is also user orientation.
User orientation shall be a key value in the administration
Norway's central government administration builds on bureaucratic administrative values, including legal protection, objectivity and equitable treatment.
The Ministry of National Planning and Coordination wants user orientation, improved service and better quality to be important administrative values on a par with these. There is no conflict between such values and an emphasis on user orientation. On the contrary, one of several characteristics of a user-oriented administration is that it is organized in such a way that it always lives up to these classic, important administrative values. A quality- and user-oriented government agency executes its tasks properly and is always looking for flaws and ways to eliminate them.
The administration must become accustomed to the fact that users compare the administration's level of service to what they experience in the private market, and that people will demand the same from government agencies as from other service providers.
Main points in the user orientation programme for the administration
1 The agencies shall produce the results
It is the agencies that shall introduce specific measures to achieve an improvement of service, and the results shall come there.
The work on improving relations with users must be based on the special functions, framework conditions and objectives of each agency. Each agency must tackle the problem of maintaining a sufficiently high level of quality, and each agency must find solutions to its specific problems.
The Ministry of National Planning and Coordination will therefore not introduce centralized reforms that shall apply to all or large parts of central government administration as was the case with the introduction of performance management or a new financial management regulation in the central government. The tasks of the Ministry in this programme is above all to develop an understanding of user orientation and service in central government administration and establish this as a value and objective in the administration. The Ministry will participate in drawing up and disseminating specific working methods which are adapted to the administration and which are useful when the administration is to improve its services to the general public. The Ministry shall also create networks for exchanging ideas and experience between agencies that work with user orientation.
2 The relationship between individual users and the administration has high priority
The user orientation programme will give priority to improving the relationship between central government administration and individual users.
The reason for this priority is that the position of individuals in relation to the administration is often weaker than that of organizations, enterprises or organized interest groups, which through close and frequent contact have become almost professional in their dealings with the administration.
However, measures and ideas that benefit individual users will often also improve the relationship between the administration and e.g. the business sector.
3 The responsibility for user orientation and service applets to all parts of the administration
Assigning priority to the relationship between individual users and the administration does not mean that the requirements relating to service, doing things properly, being open, having short and fixed waiting periods, etc. are only important for those agencies that have individual users and provide services.
Central administrative bodies like ministries have two main responsibilities with regard to how the administration deals with users.
First, the ministry has an overriding responsibility for how its subordinate agencies deal with their users, a responsibility that shall be carried out through agency management.
Excessive and varying lengths of time for administrative procedures, backlogs, errors, etc. indicate that agencies have a problem. The management of agencies by the ministry must therefore deal with the relationship between objectives and actual results in terms of what the users say about the agency. A successful agency has satisfied users and works actively to achieve shorter processing periods, ensures that users have easy access and communicates with its surroundings.
Central bodies are also part of a «production process» or «value chain» which through several stages ends up at a meeting with users.
As part of this value chain, the way in which the ministry has formulated its decisions is important, whether a decision is clear and unequivocal, whether the ministry has remained within the established deadlines in relation to its subordinate agencies, and whether there is good communication between the civil service and political leadership.
4 User orientation as an objective and quality management as a tool
In order to improve the situation for users, government agencies must accept that service is important in the administration and they must have concrete working methods and techniques to achieve results.
In the view of the Ministry of Planning and Coordination, the administration can find concrete working methods and techniques in total quality management (TQM). Used properly and based on the values and functions of the administration, these methods are a good tool.
The most important relationship between user orientation and quality is that the quality method requires an enterprise or government agency to apply user demands and opinions when determining its weak or strong points. To the extent possible, it is therefore the users who shall show the government agency what is satisfactory and what might be improved.
A few other elements in the quality approach which are also of importance to the administration are:
- The government agency must have good contact with users so that the agency knows how users assess the agency and what they want done differently.
- Emphasis on the agency finding the reasons for problems in the «production process», i.e. the way in which the agency does things. The agency must find its weak links in this production process and focus improvements on them.
- The agencies can only find better solutions when they know with certainty what the problem is and its causes. Proposals for solutions are thus made when there is an adequate description of the production process and a sound analysis which shows the location of flaws in this process.
- The agencies shall establish quality objectives, particularly in areas that are of importance to users. Such targets are for internal use as a specific indication of satisfactory standards.
- Such quality objectives, however, can also be directed towards the outside world and users in the form of performance or service declarations on the quality of service that can be expected by users.
- Government agencies must learn systematically and actively from the experience gained and the signals they receive from users.
The administration cannot uncritically adopt quality methods from the private business sector or be solely managed by users. The administration is too complex and has too many different considerations to take into account to permit this.
In spite of the distinctive features and diversity of the administration, however, many elements in the quality approach are still of interest and relevant.
The Directorate of Public Management has published a special pamphlet on quality in central government administration called «User-oriented quality», which further presents and describes how quality management work can be used in central government administration. In 1991, the Directorate published «The right quality of public services», which is also useful in the efforts to enhance the level of service in the administration. These pamphlets are only available in Norwegian.
The Directorate of Public Management has also produced guidelines on how the administration can use performance and service declarations.
4.1 The problem lies in the way government agencies execute their tasks
The user orientation programme is cautious about pointing to specific problems in the relationship between government agencies and users, and does not advocate distinct solutions to the problems that exist.
On the contrary, a key point is that government agencies themselves shall find their own quality problems and devise their own solutions to these problems. Government agencies can naturally learn from each other both in pinpointing problems and finding sound solutions, but this learning must be selective and critical so that the solutions are adapted to the actual problem of the agency.
Government agencies that want to solve their quality problems must be familiar with the «production process» in detail. Based on this knowledge, the agency can find the causes of the problems pointed out by its users. When the agency evaluates its procedures, it is important that no part of the production process is taken as a given and excluded from the evaluations. The agency must also critically examine routines that «have always been done that way» or «we have never done it that way» in order to determine whether it is actually doing its part to improve service and ensure that it does not have «empty» procedures which do not help to improve the quality of the final product.
There are examples of government agencies which during this phase of the work discover that they are not familiar with these production processes or that different parts of the agency have varying practices. Merely documenting the production process will then be a positive factor and the first step in a process for improving quality.
4.2 The solutions must be found after the problem has been located
Better solutions to problems must thus be based on knowledge of the actual causes of the problems relating to quality and thereby the relationship to users.
This is not always easy and it is frequently the case that «everyone» can see both the problem and the solution. It then often appears to be a waste of time to continue the search for the problem.
Many central government agencies learn, for example, that they have a switchboard service which is not satisfactory: those calling do not get through, they are not switched to the right person, they are often not told when they can reach the person they are looking for, etc. Government agencies are tempted to solve this problem by increasing switchboard capacity, improving the efficiency and service of officers, creating special answering services, training switchboard and reception employees, or setting up telephone duty arrangements.
Such measures are fine as a rule, but government agencies can benefit if they combine these measures with, for example, questions as to why there are so many people calling the agency and what are people calling about? Such a survey may, for example, show that the agency has rules which are too complicated, printed forms that are too difficult to complete, that the agency writes incomprehensible letters (it should be the recipient who decides whether the letter is difficult to understand, and not the sender), or that many telephone the agency because the agency cannot provide information on when users can expect a reply.
A government agency with these weak points will receive more questions than one which can provide the necessary information satisfactorily. Problems in other parts of the production process may thus result in problems at the switchboard, and measures must therefore be focused on the location of the problem.
5 Government agencies shall establish specific quality objectives
Performance management is a well-integrated management and planning tool in the administration. The new financial management regulation for central government reinforces this tool by linking planning and reporting with the budgetary and reporting process.
User orientation and emphasis on quality do not conflict in any way with such management. Experience indicates that a satisfactory reporting system is required if the work on quality and user orientation is to be successful. To improve, the administration must learn to make use of many tools simultaneously, and it is also necessary to accept several different values and objectives at the same time. The primary contribution of user orientation to these planning and management systems is that government agencies shall take account of user needs when they establish specific quality targets for what they do. These quality objectives shall be included in the plans for activities, and government agencies shall report to a higher level when these targets are reached.
Such quality objectives entail that the knowledge of what is satisfactory work in the government agency is not solely reserved for the manager but is known by everyone and the property of the entire agency.
In a user perspective, quality targets are most useful when they establish objectives for activities that are of importance to users. The users have to report on this through their contact with the government agency. But it is also natural that government agencies have quality targets for processing time and other waiting periods. Such targets may be of the type «Within three days everyone shall know that we have registered the letter or application from them» or «Within four weeks we shall reply to all letters that are sent to the government agency. When this is not possible, the person who has sent the letter shall receive a written explanation concerning the reason for this and when a reply may be expected», or «No one who telephones the agency shall be transferred more than twice before they can speak to a person who can give them an answer» or in the event of mistakes, e.g. «We shall not receive complaints on more than five per cent of our decisions».
These quality targets show what the government agency can cope with, not what it might hope to be able to cope with. As the agency gradually improves, the targets may become more ambitious.
An important objective of the user orientation programme is that such quality targets shall be customary in the administration.
The labour market administration's goal of using a maximum 21 days for processing an application for unemployment benefits or the tax authorities' goal of a maximum two days for processing an application for changing a tax card are examples of these quality targets.
It is important to be aware that through performance management the agency gains knowledge of what types of targets cannot be reached. In that case performance management shows the problem area and the area in which the agency must improve. In this respect performance management is one of the most important sources of knowledge concerning where the problem is located.
6 Service/performance declarations when this is of importance to users
Quality targets are internal and shall show what is deemed satisfactory performance. However, agencies can also make these quality targets public in the form of declarations concerning the level of service, i.e. service or performance declarations.
Such declarations indicate, for example, how a government agency will process applications and letters, how long it will take to receive a reply, etc. At the same time, they also tell users what they cannot expect of the agency, so that the agency can avoid situations where users are dissatisfied because they have not been told what the agency can provide.
The most difficult aspect of such declarations is not issuing them, but rather organizing the agency in such a way that they are actually achieved. If the agency does not do what it claims in these declarations, they probably do more harm than good.
Norway's central government administration has little experience with such performance declarations, but they are key elements in service and quality enhancement programmes in other countries, such as the UK, the US, Canada and Denmark.
Norway's central government administration can therefore learn from these countries and their experience that such declarations are feasible even given the special framework conditions which apply to central government administration. A service declaration from the federal government in the US is included below as an example.
Customer service performance standards from the Internal Revenue Service in the US
- If you file a complete and accurate tax return and you are due a refund, your refund will be issued within 40 days if you file a paper return or within 21 days if you file electronically
- Our goal is to resolve your account inquiries with one contact. To reach this goal, we will make improvements yearly.
- If you have a problem that has not been resolved through normal processes, you may contact our Problem Resolution Office. A caseworker will contact you within one week and will work with you to resolve the problem.
- If you provide sufficient and accurate information to our tax assistors bur are given and reasonably rely on an incorrect answer, we will cancel related penalities.
- We will make tax forms and instructions easier and simpler for you to use. We made some good changes this year, but we want your ideas for future improvements.
*) Source: Putting Customers First: Standards for serving the American People, p. 28.
Such declarations shall not be guarantees which would provide a basis for users to take legal action against a government agency if they are not observed. The declarations shall be a statement by the agency concerning its functions and how the agency will execute them. If the declarations are to have the right positive effect, government agencies should look upon them as binding. Declarations to which the agency is not committed may easily give users a negative impression of the agency.
7 Government agencies shall be evaluated on the basis of how they deal with their users
An important feature of a good government agency is that it has internal quality targets and preferably external service declarations. The agency shall be able to measure whether it has achieved these targets or whether there are deviations. Government agencies shall also have a system for obtaining feedback from users, for example through systematic user surveys. Agencies must take the results of this feedback into account when determining their weak points, establishing new quality objectives, prioritizing resources and introducing development projects.
Having satisfied users shall also be a key performance requirement for managers in central government administration.
8 To improve user orientation are a continuous process
Measures to improve the way in which the administration deals with users shall not be confined to a specific period, but are a continuous process. Government agencies must assume that it is always possible to improve, and experience shows that user demands increase continuously when users become accustomed to a higher level of service and quality.
A continuous improvement in quality and user orientation requires at least three things: channels for reporting between agency levels and departments, a forum that can evaluate and make decisions about changes and an organizational culture which supports this evaluation and learning.
Organizational learning is not always a simple process without conflict. It often entails challenging established truths with regard to the agency's most important functions, the objectives of the agency and the best solutions for achieving these objectives. Conflicts may arise in such situations.
9 User orientation, quality and information technology (IT)
Information technology (IT) is the strongest tool for organizational change at the moment. Many of the specific measures being carried out by government agencies in order to enhance quality and user orientation in central government administration therefore start with what has become possible with the proper use of IT.
Swifter administrative procedures and better and more coordinated information from the administration to users are only part of the results of the correct use of IT. The pilot project involving public service offices and other measures are only possible using IT. IT is also a prerequisite for allowing a government agency to collect and process the information that emerges from a dialogue with users and for achieving an exchange of management data and experience between departments and levels in the agency.
However, it must also be said that IT, in itself, is not user orientation, service or quality. In the same manner as, for example, reorganization, skills development or management development, IT is a tool which can be used to devise solutions to the quality problems of the administration and each government agency. The objective of measures and the problems of the agency must therefore, to the extent possible, be clarified before IT-based proposed solutions are drawn up.