Digitalisation is on everyone's lips and public administration is no exception. The Online Access Act (OZG) is intended to ensure that we can easily complete all of our administrative procedures online. But is that enough? In this article, we explain why we should not only look at the "shop window" of the administration, i.e. the websites and apps, but also at what happens behind it.
The online access law: a first step
The OZG is a law that promotes the digitalisation of administrative services. The aim is to make it easier for citizens and companies to access administrative services. The focus here is often on frontend-orientated approaches, i.e. the websites and apps that citizens use.
The challenge: internal change
A modern image is important, but that alone is not enough. If the internal processes in the administration are not modernised in the same way, efficiency will fall by the wayside. Systematic improvements are needed here.
The solution: comprehensive digitalisation
A holistic digitalisation strategy must take into account both the visible and invisible aspects of administration. This includes
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Michael Köhler
Director, Consulting - Public Sector
KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Petra Babette Büchel
Senior Manager, Consulting - Public Sector
KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
The once-only principle aims to increase the efficiency of administrative services by enabling citizens to submit their personal data to an authority only once. Once collected, the data can be reused for different services and procedures. This not only minimises the administrative burden, but also promotes data consistency and security. In the context of the Online Access Act (OZG), this is a key criterion for achieving the highest level of digitalisation maturity, OZG maturity level 4.
The OZG maturity level 4 stands for an advanced level of digitisation and enables the direct retrieval of personal data from the central administrative registers. This means that once citizens have submitted their data, they do not have to do so again, but the data can be retrieved directly from the relevant register. This is not only efficient, but also reduces the possibility of errors that can arise from multiple data entries.
The interface between the OZG and register modernisation is of crucial importance for the effective implementation of the once-only principle. The correct identification and categorisation of the required data and documents are essential here. This should ensure that all requirements relating to data consistency and security are met and that the data can be retrieved efficiently.
A "single point of truth" in this context means that each main register is carefully checked to ensure that it serves as the single, reliable source of specific data or evidence. This eliminates the risk of data inconsistencies and increases the reliability of the overall administrative service.
To illustrate the various options for realising OZG maturity level 4, register modernisation has created a counterpart to the various implementation options for how verification data should be exchanged in the administration in future. Currently, transport is often still analogue. The target image envisages the exchange of individual data fields and the vision consists of already interpreted responses to queries. For example, a query about the age of majority should only be confirmed.
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In a project supervised by KPMG, a methodology is being developed using the example of economic administration enforcement in order to identify the technical requirements of the online services for the data providers and to develop a technical solution for transferring the data on this basis.
