Executive summary

D The results of the survey show that there is still

much to be done in order to achieve full
availability of local public eServices in Italy. On
average, 11.1 out of 43 services included in the
survey are actually available to citizens and
enterprises in the 1,112 municipal territories with

Availability and quality

more than 10,000 inhabitants (25.6%).
D Only 37% of the services analyzed can be
Available local eServices by considered real transactions (full electronic
interactivity level case handling), while most of them are merely
downloadable forms. This result certainly stresses
Downloadable how difficult is for local P.A. to provide efficient
Full forms
transactions 46%
services on line. However that might also reflect
37% the actual behavior of the final user, who might
be just looking for information and not requesting
the implementation of costly transactional
platforms.
D Previous studies have shown that interactivity of
eServices should not be measured using discrete
stages, since it does not really reflect a linear
Access to databases
17% progression from information to transaction. This
survey, which detects the simultaneous presence
of 10 attributes of the service, helps to assess the
overall quality, reflecting the true functioning and
usage of each single service. In particular, new
dimensions of interactivity are considered,
such as the presence of public accessible on line
databases (i.e. public libraries catalogues).

D The survey adopted a user-centered approach in

its search for eServices. All public and private
websites were surveyed in order to find and
Available local eServices by
analyze the 43 local on line services included in
provider at local level
eServices providers

the sample. A significant share of eServices is

offered through websites not directly
Institutional websites of managed by local institutions often considered
Municipal administrations
40% in previous surveys such as Regional, Provincial
and Municipal Administrations. The variety of
e-government eServices available might disorient the final users,
project portals thereby jeopardizing the web credibility of public
18%
websites.
Websites
at provincial level
1%
D The role of institutional websites of the Italian
municipalities – the closest institutions to the final
Websites
at regional level users – is considered crucial by local and national
5% policy makers in order to include the largest
Other Websites of municipal possible number of citizens in the development of
0,8% shared offices for the Information Society. The data shows that the
enterprises
institutional websites of the municipalities
Websites of Private companies (SUAP)
7%
no longer represent the main channel for
authorised to collect local taxes
28% providing municipal services via the web.

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 Many other local websites have taken their place:
60% of the transactional on line services analyzed
are offered by the websites of other public and
private organizations such as companies for tax
collection, shared offices dedicated to enterprises,
portals of e-government projects, regional
portals.

D If the actual availability of the services is

considered from a user-centered point of view, it
becomes evident that those municipal eServices

“Aggregated” provision
offered in an “aggregated” way – through a single
website but directly available to individuals and
enterprises operating in more than one municipal
territory – show a much higher impact than the
solutions developed by individual municipalities.
This impact is estimated to be, on average, from
5 times higher for e-government projects
websites to 50 times higher in the case of portals
handled by Regional Administrations. This result
underlines the well known need to avoid
duplication, i.e. for the development of similar
solutions in similar territorial contexts (there are
Available local eServices by
more than 8,100 Italian); this drives the
Type of service
requirement for more coordinated actions at
Public records
Regional and National level.
Local taxes
and certificates
9%
D As a consequence, the services that demonstrate
10% a higher level of availability are regional or
Health Social security
8% provincial services (i.e. job related) or are
6%
municipal services provided in an “aggregated”
Vehicle way (i.e. local tax payment).
and
parking
Public libraries
5%
and cultural D The number of available services per municipal
services
territory varies from 0 to almost 20 services out
16%
Employment of 43, with an average of 11.1. The presence of
services a large number of territories with few or no
Services for
24%
enterprises available services proves that the
Education
11% implementation of local e-government in Italy is
11%
still far from complete.
The digital divide

D The report analyses some of the determinants of

this digital divide in eServices provision.
o The size of the resident population in the
municipal territories does not dramatically
Available municipal services influence the number of available services.
Resident population Even though a correlation exists, the survey
found the presence of a number of isolated
10.000 - 19.999 cases of high performing territories among
inhabitants small or medium-sized municipalities.
o The level of financial independence of the
20.000 - 59.999 Municipal Administration, since a more
inhabitants
autonomous financial regime tends to
increase the willingness to invest in
More than 60.000 innovation, also affects eServices provision.
inhabitants
o Finally, the participation in e-government
0 5 10 15 20 projects co-funded by the National
Total Transactional services Government from 2002 to 2007 has

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Methodology
The basic procedure adopted by each
researcher is:
STEP 1: Locate available eServices from
a list of 43 local eServices, considering
both public and private websites
STEP 2: Verify the presence of 10
standard features or characteristics of the
service in order to assess interactivity and
quality:
1. Basic information
undoubtedly helped Local Administration to
foster public services provision via the web.
Further research is needed to evaluate not
only the effectiveness of the connection of
those front office platforms to back office
processes, but also the long-term financial
sustainability of the projects together with the
actual take-up and user satisfaction.
D There is considerable variation in the quality
of eServices provision among the municipal
territories of the Italian regions. This variation is

Regional models
2. Downloadable forms mainly due to the ability of each Regional
3. Access to public databases Administrations to offer its services on line and to
4. Presence of a tracking system involve and coordinate the other local institutions
5. Full transaction in shared projects.
6. Back office interoperability
7. Help and assistance D Italian Regions also present different models for
8. User ID with passwords eServices provision. In some Regions (such as
9. User ID with eCards Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Molise and Calabria)
10. Other User ID the prevailing type of provider is the institutional
STEP 3: If a password or an electronic website of the Municipalities, while in other
card for user identification is required, Regions (such as Liguria, Abruzzo, Basilicata,
interview the people responsible for the Marche) the services are offered predominantly at
service provision Regional level. The survey revealed that in three
Data collected from November 2006 to regions - namely Abruzzo, Marche and Sardinia -
Jananuary 2007. e-government shared portals played a major role
in the provision of on line services, largely as a
result of the co-funded projects in the 2002-2007
period.

Number
N. Servizi onof available
line
(competenza comunale)
municipal services
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
11-12

13-14

15-16

17-19