Atmosphere Report

EUPAN Working Level Meeting

11 – 12 October 2018

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Family Photo

Participants

Representatives of the public administrations in the Member States of the

European Union, the European Commission, the EIPA and observer countries as

well as academic experts participated in the EUPAN Working Level Meeting. The

meeting took place at the Austria Center Vienna (ACV), which serves as

permanent conference facility where most of the meetings within the Austrian

Presidency are held.

For the first time in the history of the EUPAN, the

former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

participated at an EUPAN Meeting.

Green Meeting

The Austrian EU Presidency is endeavouring to

manage its events in a sustainable fashion. Thus, we

are proud that the EUPAN Working Level Meeting

fulfilled the Österreichische Umweltzeichen eco-

label’s criteria for green meetings. Further

information can be found at

www.umweltzeichen.at/cms/en/green-meetings-and-events/content.html.

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Plenary Session

Sabine Piska-Schmidt and Michael Kallinger, both from the Austrian Ministry for the

Civil Service and Sport and chairs of the meeting, had the pleasure to ring the

traditional EUPAN bell to open the Working Level Meeting within the Austrian

Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2018.

On behalf of the whole Austrian EUPAN team, Sabine Piska-Schmidt and Michael

Kallinger warmly welcomed all participants to the meeting.

After introducing the Austrian EUPAN Team, the agenda of the Working Level

Meeting was presented to the participants of the meeting and adopted.

The presentations of the plenary sessions and the workshops can be found on the

Precidency Portal for Informal Events (PPI). They have been uploaded in the

documents section and filed in the respective folders (“Plenary Sessions” and

“Workshops”).

Preliminary findings of the study “Visualisation of Performance

Information – Current Trends in Reporting”

The Austrian Presidency contributed a study to the EUPAN that focuses on

“Impacts of digitalisation on reporting and visualisation with special regards to

performance management” which was presented by Hannes Leo and Natascha

Fenz (Company CBASED, which operated the study). The study approaches this

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topic both from a theoretical, literature based, as well as an survey based angle to

highlight salient features and recent developments.

The survey was done in August 2018 and covered the following topics:

● Innovations in the reporting and visualisation workflow, impacting factors

and impact on public sector output and outcome

● Performance management and the role of reporting and visualisation in

performance management

● Examples for workflow innovation in reporting and visualisation

24 respondents completed the questionnaire representing 21 countries and the

European Commission. The study has thus a solid basis for analysing recent

developments across Europe.

The results hint – without going into details – that most public sectors are actively

engaged in innovation activities that redefine processes and the level of efficiency

and effectiveness of public service provision and the operation overall. On the

demand side factors, intensified efforts to reduce internal bureaucracy and cut red

tape was the most important factor. Better informed citizens and treating service

users as customers were – amongst other factors – also highly ranked. Driving

factors were the further implementation of e-government services and open data

portals.

Performance management is also on the agenda and already institutionalised in

most European countries although at different development levels. Reporting and

visualisation is – according to the survey – mostly relying on traditional formats and

approaches. This is most likely to change once the performance management

systems are fully deployed.

Status of the development of the CAF2020

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF), presented by Michael Kallinger, is an

important outcome of the EUPAN. It has been created in the year 2000 and is

offered as a common tool to assist public sector organisations across Europe to

implement the criteria of Good Governance.

The last version dating from the year 2013, in the meeting of the CAF Working

Group in Tallinn in September 2017 the decision was taken to create a new CAF-

version, recflecting current and upcoming challenges for public administration.

Input has been gathered from 160 participants at the subsequent CAF-Event and

CAF-Working Group Meeting in Sofia in April 2018, leading to a consensus on the

road map to get to the new version. In addition, a questionnaire was sent out to the

national correspondents, asking them about what they were missing in the CAF

2013 and which aspects should be better emphasized on in the new version. The

results were discussed in a Video Conference hosted by Italy in June 2018.

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A first draft of the new version could already be discussed during the CAF WG in

Brussels in July 2018. Following are the guiding principles for the development of

the CAF 2020:

Core structure of CAF remains unchanged

Reducing redundancies for a better usability

Add a Glossary and links to Management Instruments

Reference to Best-practices

After a thorough analysis of the input collected so far, five focus points of the new

version could be identified:

Digitalisation

Innovation

Agility

Sustainability

Diversity

During the Working Group Meeting on 12 October 2018 in Vienna, participants

agreed on a new version for the enabler criteria 1 – 5 (Leadership, Strategies and

Planning, People, Partnerships and Resources, Processes), reflecting better the

five new focus points as a means to cope with the identified challenges for public

sector organisations.

The Austrian Presidency will continue its focus on the new version, and we are glad

that the Romanian as well as Finnish colleagues are ready to take on in their

presidencies.

Introduction to the GovLabAustria

GovLabAustria, presented by Ursula Rosenbichler (Head of the GovLabAustria), is

an interdisciplinary umbrella organisation for laboratories fostering innovation in the

public sector. It is operated by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Civil Service and the

Danube-University Krems. Experts from the Ministry of Civil Service and Sport, the

Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, the departments for E-Governance in

economics and public administration as well as experts for knowledge- and

communication management of the Danube-University Krems collaborate at this

public sector innovation unit.

GovLabAustria targets central challenges of the public sector, looking for

intersectoral approaches while integrating relevant stakeholders in an academic

and practical context in an open and interdisciplinary experimental space.

The core targets of GovLabAustria are

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the prototypical implementation of research and development projects in the

fields of public sector innovation and evidence-based policy making,

international observation of innovative projects, methods and solutions in

and beyond the public sector,

the integration of expertise from administration, academia, private sector

and the public, as well as

the dissemination of knowledge through education, training and

communication.

Preliminary findings of the study “New Way of Working in Public

Administration”

The Study “New Way of Working in Public Administration” was presented by the

authors Christian Korunka, Bettina Kubicek and Martin Risak, professors from the

Universities of Graz and Vienna, who shared their expertise with the participants in

the plenary session and within the interactive workshops.

The work and organisational part of the study deals with the spread and

consequences of the new way of working as well as potential supportive and

hindering factors during their implementation. The legal part of the study deals with

legal frameworks facilitating new ways of working and identifies common trends

and practices as well as new approaches, which usually concern hours of work and

locations of work.

We are thankful that 28 respondents completed the questionnaires, which shows

high interest in the topic “New Way of Working”. Different kinds of temporal

flexibility were analysed, showing that flexitime and part-time work are those

models which are most often used. Especially for flexitime a wide variety of models

in the different public administrations exists. In contrast, compressed working

weeks and trust-based working time are less frequently used. Within the different

kinds of spatial flexibility, teleworking is used in many different public

administrations, while high mobile teleworking is used less. Within both kinds of

teleworking, the majority of countries indicated that only few employees actually

telework. With regard to the legal aspects, homogenity concerning working time,

data protection, provision of equipment, health & safety could be detected, while

heterogenity concerning cost refund could be found. In only a few countries desk-

sharing and activity-based flexible offices are offered. Within these countries the

bandwidth ranges from few employees up to 50% using this possibility. Within the

topic functional flexibility, nearly half of the participants indicated job rotation

opportunities in their public administration, with a rather rare use of job rotation in

most countries.

After the presentation a lively discussion developed, serving as good preparation

for the workshops, during which further details were analysed and discussed. The

crucial role of leadership within a change process was highlighted, while at the

same time concerns not to just follow fashion were expressed. Partipants agreed,

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that when implementing New Way of Working, a balance between employer and

employee should be strived for.

Integration of Persons with Disabilities in the Civil Service

The Austrian Government Programme 2017-2022 aims to improve participation of

persons with disabilities and thus, among other things, to promote their integration

in the labour market. There are various fields of action within the Austrian Federal

Civil Service to follow this goal, ranging from legal frameworks and organisational

provisions to individual workplace integration or breaking down barriers in

education and training.

The plenary presentation on the Integration of Persons with Disabilities in the Civil

Service by Susanna Rihs from the Austrian Federal Ministry for he Civil Service

and Sport, served as a general overview. Participants who were interested in more

detailed information and discussions could take part in the workshops on this topic.

The workshop summary, some links and the presentation can be downloaded from

the Precidency Portal for Informal Events (PPI).

EUPAN Website: State of Play

The state of play regarding the current EUPAN website was presented by Stephan

Lauringer from the Austrian Federal Ministry for he Civil Service and Sport. The

current Website has been realized through the financial contribution of the French

Presidency in 2008. Thanks to the work of Estonia and Bulgaria within their

presidencies, the EUPAN Website and its use were comprehensively analysed.

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Based on this, two proposals were presented:

First, the new website could be lean and static, containing a description and

mission statement of the network and contact details of the respective presidency.

Second, the new EUPAN website could be similar but more dynamic, with the

possibility to upload and store important documents like studies and reports.

Practical information, dates and other relevant documents regarding all EUPAN

meetings, will be shared via PPI by all future presidencies.

There was a high degree of consensus among participants to follow the

suggestions and thus create a userfriendly website that meets the current and

future needs of the EUPAN. Consensus was stronger for proposal two, which

would allow to add documents to the website.

Steps towards the next EUPAN Strategy Paper

Sabine Piska-Schmidt presented the steps towards the next EUPAN Strategy

Paper. The current EUPAN strategy paper defines the process to develop a new

or renewed Strategy Paper as follows:

“Prior to the termination of the current SP on 30 June 2019, a process shall start

to make a new (or renewed) SP for the next period of 3 years. The preparation of

the new (renewed) SP should take into consideration the evaluation of the previous

SP, a new trend analysis, a new SWOT and stakeholder’s analysis, as well as a

new playing field overview. For time management purposes, in order to have a new

SP by the end of the three-years circle (the 6th Presidency), it is recommended to

start the above process during the 5th Presidency (Austria). The EUPAN 5

Secretariat is responsible for the process in general.”

As fifth Presidency within the three-years-period of the current Strategy Paper and

in order to have a smooth transition to the next Strategy Paper, Austria starts with

the evaluation process and therefore proposed the following next steps:

First, analysing the fit between the domains of the Strategy Paper and the topics of

workshops at EUPAN meetings. Second, sending out a questionnaire, which aims

to collect and analyse attitudes towards the current EUPAN Strategy Paper. The

results will serve as a basis for creating a new or renewed Strategy Paper, which

meets the future challenges of European public administrations. The questionnaire

was developed in close cooperation with EUPAN 5, discussed within the Working

Level Meeting and then sent out to EUPAN members at 18 October 2018.

Due to the strategic importance of this process and the fact that the EUPAN

Strategy Paper will be on the agenda of the DG Meeting, participants agreed upon

an active involvement of their Directors General in completing the questionnaire.

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Workshops

All workshops took place on both days of the meeting, so that participants could

decide for two different topics.

Workshops – 11 October 2018

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In accordance with the areas and domains within the current EUPAN Strategy

Paper and the Rolling Programme, workshops were provided which dealt with the

following topics:

New Way of Working in Public Administration (Workshops 1 and 2)

Integration of Persons with Disabilities in Public Administration

(Workshop 3)

Impacts of Digitalisation on Reporting and Visualisation (Workshop 4)

Innovation Framework (Workshop 5)

The workshops helped the participants to gain new perspectives and deepen their

insights into different countries’ public administrations, which mostly face similar

challenges but often develop different solutions to deal with them.

Workshop size ranged from 8 to 18 participants per day. This ensured interactive

workshops with fruitful discussions and exchange of experiences. Detailed

information about the workshops can be found in the PPI.

Workshops – 12 October 2018

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Social Event

Traditionally, the first day of the Working Level Meeting ends with a social event.

The Austrian EUPAN Team organised a short bus trip to a traditional Austrian vine

tavern, which was located north of Vienna in Hagenbrunn. The Event started with a

short walk through the vineyards. Halfway we were greeted by two musicians who

started playing typical Viennese songs along the way and accompanied our group

for the rest of the evening.

While enjoying the dinner from the buffet selection, participants of the EUPAN had

the possibility to get to know each other better and to discuss about experiences

that were made throughout the day. As the EUPAN serves as informal network for

public administrations in Europe, the informal exchange of experinces has always

been an important part of EUPAN meetings.

Last but not least we would like to thank all our colleagues for the kind feedback we

received!

Austrian EUPAN Team