Computerize public administration: Where to start?

' Computerization of public administration ' is a right policy, in line with the law of social development, but it must be admitted that this policy will be very difficult because there is a difference in awareness and treatment. work between levels, between agencies together. In order for this policy to have more opportunities to succeed, we must first change administrative procedures, establish scientific and effective processes, not so focused on investing in the hardware system as in the past. . Having done so, hope to succeed .

Many people believe that today's papers are solved faster because the computers appear more and more in places where people work, from the People's Committee of the ward to the notary public offices . .

Just the surface

Not as expected, but the speed of resolving people's requests, from certification of identity, to housing purchase documents and hundreds of other necessary procedures of people's lives is now faster. The processing speed is faster than not thanks to the computer, but the administrative process is somewhat more compact and less cumbersome.

But there is an opportunity to find out in detail the operating process of computer users in administrative agencies, and the computer function is only about 10% of the time, still The function of the device also stops at extremely simple operations such as typing text, listening to music, watching movies and at most still playing . electronic games. Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of IaBlang Commune (Chu Se, Gia Lai) said that the commune also bought two computers, had printers and Internet connection, but mostly 'type' reports all kinds to send to superiors. The main function of the machine is to type the text, then print and send it to the district to submit.

Commenting on the current public administration of computer equipment, an IT expert commented: 'To be fair, buying machines for administrative agencies, especially grants In the commune, it was a step forward. At least in those places, officials also know what computers are. How to use is another story. I suppose, except for a few localities that know how to promote the performance and efficiency of the computer, the rest is just a typewriter no less. Computerizing such public administration is not true to its concept. 'According to this expert, with such a lot of unconventional notions, the process of computerizing public administration is an extremely difficult process in the context of the current weak administrative apparatus.

Where to start?

Through the concept of information technology experts, we see that the concept and understanding of 'computerization of public administration' of experts is seen in many different angles even though, for them, Equipping is just a means to do it, not a goal.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thong, Network Manager of Saigon Telecommunication Services Joint Stock Company (SPT), looked directly into the problem when he believed that the computerization of public administration is one of the things to be done, but over time , those agencies responsible for only investing in machinery and equipment have not paid attention to the ability, capacity and thinking of the beneficiaries from the program. According to Mr. Thong, if investing in machinery that users do not know, will cause waste. And Mr. Nguyen Chien Thang, CEO of Paynet Network Payment Services Company, looks at another angle. He said that in order to successfully computerize, administrative agencies must first restructure to create a unified management model between administrative units and agencies outside the system: businesses, people people . as an enterprise ERP model. Mr. Thang further elaborated: ' If there is a unified management model, we will describe, analyze the process, then write the software according to the actual conditions, and choose the method of deployment. If that is the case, the use of new modern devices will be effective for that change process . '

Mr. Le Thanh Chuong, in charge of the telecommunication product group of Fimexco, looks at the construction and completion of the system starting from the base. This process will be implemented in a spiral-like manner. After the establishment synchronizes according to a model, it will continue to follow the same direction at a higher level. Mr. Chuong explained: ' The ward is in sync, so it is easy to manage in the district. And so on until the last level . To believe in successful public administration as expected, the first thing is to build a model according to a certain scope of social and economic conditions . . '

As a person who has worked for many years in an administrative agency, La Thanh Can IT engineer also stated that it is necessary to build a management model on the basis of maximizing the labor productivity of each member. in the agency. Having this model, the hardware and software equipping is only the last stage, much money or little money will be 'raw rice sauce'.

Over time, perhaps because of the impatience with the slow administrative procedures that many management agencies think, just having a shared software and a computer can solve many things. In fact, when implementing projects related to information technology, the project implementers have implemented models from developed countries. An expert said that it was a mistake of the process of "computerizing public administration". This expert said that in order for the process to be successful, first of all, it is necessary to build an information model: what content to report, who receives this information, how to enjoy it . He said: ' At one To some extent, we must thank the previous failures to realize what is right and what is wrong. Don't be too hopeful about machines, it's important that we make machines work, that's our organization plan. I think that the process of computerizing public administration is extremely difficult. It takes time to deploy. Pre-testing should be done in some localities with different levels. It was then widely deployed . '

Mr. Nguyen Van Hien, Director of iNet Solutions, proposed: ' The State issues the problem, then the solution providers propose the most effective solution according to the daily working process of public administrative units, then the state chooses . ' Also according to Mr. Hien, if implementing computerization of public administration, it is necessary to allocate funds for implementation so that grassroots levels can find the best solution but save the most cost.

Thien Vu