Microsoft Server Product Portfolio Customer Solution Case Study

Paperless Council Meetings in Oporto Make Procedures More Efficient and Save 11 Trees a Year Year
Customer: Cmara Municipal do Porto Web Site: www.cm-porto.pt Number of Employees: 3,000 Country or Region: Portugal Industry: GovernmentLocal Partner: CaveDigital, and Indra Sistemas Customer Profile Oporto Municipal Council provides local authority services to around 240,000 people in northern Portugal, and is responsible for managing 15 parishes. Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Technologies Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Microsoft ASP.NET Windows Workflow Foundation

In the traditional, paper-based model, the whole process of approving proposals was a lengthy affair. Now, through Office SharePoint Server 2007, it can be done more or less in real time.
Councillor Vladimiro Cardoso Feliz, Portfolio Holder for Education, Youth, and Innovation, Oporto Municipal Council

Cmara Municipal do Porto (Oporto Municipal Council)the second largest local authority in Portugalwanted to reduce its carbon footprint, and improve communication and collaboration between its elected councillors and council officers. The authority has set up an executive portal using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. As a result, council meetings no longer require paper documents, saving time and moneynot to mention about 11 trees a year. Business Needs
Oporto Municipal Council provides local authority services to around 240,000 people in northern Portugal, and is responsible for managing 15 parishes. The council meets twice a month. Traditionally, this involved creating around 175,000 pages of paper a year for full council meetings alonethe equivalent, according to council estimates, of 350 reams of paper each consisting of 500 sheets. That is, around 11 trees. Councillor Vladimiro Cardoso Feliz, Portfolio Holder for Education, Youth, and Innovation for Oporto Municipal Council, says: There are some internal processes examined at these meetings where the reports run to thousands of pages, if we include attachments. Just recently, one agenda item alone ran to 1,500 pages for each of the 13 elected members at the meeting. Not only was the process damaging to the councils carbon footprint, but the reliance on paper at council meetings represented enormous expenditure, wasted time, and inefficiencies, according to Feliz.

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The council initially streamlined its procedures by printing only the front pages of each agenda item and making the supporting documents available to each councillor on a USB memory stick. But this was a partial solution, because it only included documents produced in text format. As a result, the council decided it needed a digital system that integrated with the authoritys document management system. The authority also wanted an environment that was flexible and scalable for its future needs for greater transparency around decision making to the public.

need for managing any physical documents. The new system has the following features:

amendments recorded electronicallythe minutes are then immediately available for approval as a correct record.

Proposals for consideration by members are created online. The approval process is initiated using documents in digital format. If approved, tenders are included on the agenda. Councillors receive their notices of meeting by e-mail. At the meetings, councillors deal with business matters using their portable computers, which are connected by a secure wireless network to the town hall system. The logistics and management of the democratic processes associated with the meeting are also handled digitally, including voting, arrival and departure of members, and amendments to proposals.

Because it is a Web-based application, the executive portal integrates easily with the councillors computer environment, and the authority intranet making it easier for officers and members to work together. The system is highly flexible and scalable, and officers will extend its use to municipal assembly meetings involving a larger number of stakeholders. The new executive portal is a vital step towards another ambition for the broadcasting of council meetings to the public through the authority Web site, leading to greater transparency, better governance, and more accountability to citizens and businesses. Oporto Municipal Council is setting an example to other local authorities and government agencies in Portugal of good governance by optimising resources, reducing costs, and making use of environmentally friendly technology.

Solution
The authority invested in an executive portal solution developed by Microsoft Gold Certified Partners CaveDigital and Indra Sistemas, using Microsoft technologies. It takes the form of a digital meetings solution, CaveDigital Board Meeting 2007, Town Hall Edition, which aims to digitise proceedings in the council chamber. The solution is a Web-based, integrated application linked to the councils intranet. The existing information flows are based on Windows Workflow Foundation, the Microsoft technology for managing workflows that is part of Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 connection software. The documents for the councillors use the Open XML standard. In addition, the solution uses Office SharePoint Server 2007 for the portal, Microsoft ASP.NET, which is the Microsoft integration layer for the Internet, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database software. The council also deployed the Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition operating system and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 communication and collaboration server. With the new digital solution, everything operates in the council chamber without the

Benefits
Aside from reducing its carbon footprint by saving 11 trees a year, the new paperless council administration has resulted in greater productivity from all the employees who provide support at council meetings. The system is highly secure, especially given the sensitivity of some agenda items. Councillor Feliz says: In the traditional, paper-based model, the whole process of approving proposals was a lengthy affair. Now, through Office SharePoint Server 2007, it can be done more or less in real time.

Civil servants generate minutes of the meetings automatically once the proceedings end, with votes and

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published June 2008