Smart Administration

In 2005, the company MEPCO participated in the formation of the National Development Plan of the Czech Republic, a major document for the implementation and use of the Structural Funds in the Czech Republic. Apart from other things, therefore, we had the change to formulate the concept “smart administration”, mentioned in the EU documents. In 2006 – 2008, we realized, together with the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic and other partners, a pilot educational and advisory project, which involved almost 50 municipalities and regional authorities. In this way, we checked the possibilities for application of methods of strategic management of municipalities, towns, and regions through the methods like the BSC, benchmarking, and CAF within Czech conditions. For instance, we have introduced the BSC method in the town of Uherské Hradiště, where it is to primarily serve for monitoring and fulfilling the action plans of the Strategic Plan of the town.

The new programming period brings an excellent opportunity to use the resources from the Structural Funds precisely for modernization of the offices of local authorities. Such modernization does not only involve the implementation of e-government methods. Apart from a necessary harmonization of state-wide public registers and further development of services like CzechPoint, we hope that the municipalities get larger space for developing of the so-called e-participation, i.e. application of ICT in order to strengthen public services and support greater involvement of the citizens in public decision-making processes. This also comprises system integration of information systems in the municipalities, and one of the latest trends is the establishment of town and municipal call centres or division of the administration offices into the so-called service zones (Front Office – Back Office).

Apart from the above-mentioned methods of strategic management, the municipalities have the chance now to be more thorough and consistent in the implementation of personal management methods, and especially of methods of the so-called soft skills (communication, ethical codex etc.). For this very purpose, the company MEPCO, in cooperation with the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic, is preparing an educational system for municipal representatives, which is going to represent a helpful instrument for the elected representatives and top municipal management in order to accelerate local economic growth, increase the efficiency of the office, and improve the quality of the services provided by the office.