Clear,
user-friendly,
simple
- New visions for
digital government
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Preface
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Preface
The Danish Commerce and Companies Agency works actively to ensure
that companies experience their interaction with public authorities as
being easy and efficient. When companies save time and costs on public
reporting and registrations, they can instead spend their time creating
growth in the company and in society. Efficient public service also means
that the public authorities use far fewer resources on enquiries and correcting errors.
An important part of these efforts is providing digitised self-service to
companies for contacting public authorities; however, new challenges
arise as the digitisation progresses. Both time and wage costs can be
saved by digitising reports and registrations, but when the helpful contact
person disappears, companies also lose the opportunity for specific and
personal assistance. This is costly for both companies and authorities,
as many self-service solutions today do not invite companies to serve
themselves. Ultimately, this may cause a range of challenges: companies
must utilise multiple channels simultaneously to solve their problem, they
make mistakes, or they are simply unable to comply with regulations even
if they want to. Therefore, a thorough and insightful approach is necessary
to create a self-service solution that can replace the competent voice on
the phone.
MindLab
Slotsholmsgade 12
1216 Copenhagen K
Denmark
+45 3392 3144
info@mind-lab.dk
www.mind-lab.dk
Content and editing:
Johanne Mygind
MindLab
Danish Commerce and Companies Agency
Design:
Matylda Rasmussen
MindLab
Photo:
Matylda Rasmussen
MindLab
In this publication, you can read about two projects designed to create
more efficient public service through digital solutions. The first of these
projects deals with farmers’ use of the spray journal, which a mandatory
tool for reporting their use of pesticides to the Danish AgriFish Agency. The
second examines companies’ use of the self-service solution for locating
their industry code. Both projects examine experiences with the use of the
digital solution and the public authorities’ own workflows. The projects
have given us thorough insight into users’ challenges and made clear how
public authorities can work together to provide effective solutions that are
efficient for companies and public authorities alike.
A business case was developed in the project on industry codes, showing that a new self-service site for industry codes will save companies
so much time that the total savings for them will be DKK 25 million over
a four-year period. At the same time, the solution will also reduce the
expenses of Danish Commerce and Companies Agency and Statistics
Denmark by DKK 930.000.
© Danish Commerce and Companies Agency
and MindLab 2011
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Preface
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Despite the very different nature of the two projects, many of the conclusions are applicable in many differentcontexts. Therefore, we have
summarised these conclusions in four goals for the digitisation of public
service. In the last part of this publication, you can see how we have transformed these goals into a practical digital solution in our new self-service
site for industry codes.
We hope that our challenges and solutions can contribute to challenging
and inspiring other public authorities seeking to provide efficient digital
service to citizens and companies.
Eva Meiling, Deputy Director General, Danish Commerce and Companies
Agency
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Borgerportræt
Ung virksomhedsejer
Goals
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goal number 1:
The purpose of the
electronic self-service
solution must be communicated clearly.
”Do you have any idea what they will use it for? Is
it some kind of ‘Big Brother is watching you’ and
they are waiting at the ready to pounce on you?”
(Farmer, on the spray journal)
”The way I see it, the industry code is the sector that you are permitted to operate within. For
example, my company cannot work with foods,
even though I am actually an expert in this area,
because I chose this code for landscaping.”
(Handyman om branchekodesitet)
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Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goals
Goals
”I would be nervous about reporting something
incorrectly if there were penalties associated with
it. It would be unfortunate to fall into a trap.”
(Farmer, on the spray journal)
Many studies of citizens and business owners show that they approach
public authorities with a certain degree of nervousness. They may be
unsure of the purpose of the public service or afraid of making mistakes.
Business owners’ uncertainty is often compounded by digitised contact,
because nobody is available to explain the purpose of the regulations to
citizens and companies. When the purpose is unclear, companies fear
making mistakes with unknown consequences. Therefore, it is important
that all public self-service solutions begin by communicating the purpose
of the solution clearly and simply.
The business owner registering an industry code should be informed that
the industry code is primarily a statistical tool, but also a requirement for
obtaining a Central Business Register number.
Similarly, the users of the spray journal must be aware that it is a legallyrequired report and designed to enable the authorities to perform inspections.
In self-service solutions designed to help authorities to perform inspections, it is important to draw attention to the potential penalties of noncompliance. Of course, it is also important that the text on the site does
not directly assist those who wish to intentionally break the law.
However, these types of considerations should not prevent authorities
from clearly communicating the fact that there are potential penalties if
the report is not correct. If the intention of digital reporting is to make it
easier for the authorities to conduct inspections, this purpose should not
be camouflaged in service terms. Our projects suggest that clear communication regarding requirements, inspections and penalties will make
business owners more secure about using digital self-service solutions.
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goal number 2:
The system must
handle the complexity of the self-service
solution, not the user.
“I assume that the system was designed to identify incorrect reports. That is, to ensure you have
entered numbers correctly if they seem strange,
for example, if you enter litres where it should
have been grams.”
(Farmer, on the spray journal)
“If I wrote coaching, then it suggested computer
courses, folk schools, information related to
teaching activities, immigrant education. Then I
searched for something with dogs. Then I ended
up with something about cultivation of perennial
plants and pig farming. I couldn’t find an industry code that fit at all.”
(Coach and animal behaviour therapist, on industry code site)
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Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goals
“I think it was that industry code, because it was
under building and construction activities, which
requires specialisation. But there was also a code
called ‘other building completion’. If I mark that
industry code, then I’m not sure if it’s right or
not. It was pretty much a guess.”
Goals
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Therefore, it is important to emphasise the necessity of thinking in
terms of solutions that users can use without any real expertise in
relation to the system. If this approach is not taken, users will very
frequently have to personally contact the public authorities – or will
simply make mistakes. This is not just frustrating for business owners.
It is also a significant waste of resources by the public authorities,
which must spend time and personnel resources on serving those who
encountered difficulties with the digital solution.
(Carpenter, on the industry code site)
Many public digital self-service solutions have chosen to place responsibility for correct reporting on companies instead of reducing the
complexity of the solution.
On the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency’s industry codes
website, business owners had to find their industry code without any
assistance. Companies had to find their code by clicking on the broad
and often abstract terms the system uses to categorise an industry. It
is not explained that the code must be six digits – therefore, a number
of companies end up making mistakes because they submit codes with
too few digits. Every year, the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency
receives 7296 telephone calls from companies in doubt about their
choice of industry codes.
In the spray journal, many farmers point out that the list of pesticides
does not come with a fixed unit of measurement, but that farmers must
personally enter whether the product is measured in litres, grams, etc.
In a successful digital self-service solution, the system assumes
responsibility for tackling the complexity that underlies the solution.
Therefore, on the new industry code website, users will be assisted by a
number of functions, thereby significantly reducing the number of calls
to the agency. This includes an expanded search function where companies can enter the words they use to describe their company. The site
will automatically link these words with suggested industry codes.
Designing a system that takes greater responsibility for ensuring users
submit registrations and reports correctly requires a change of attitude
among public authorities, which often assume that users understand
the administrative language, or are at least willing to learn it.
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Borgerportræt
Ung arbejdsskadet
Goals
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goal number 3:
The self-service solution must be based on
the user’s reality.
“It sure is complicated. It is not made for those
with multiple fields. This simply takes too long.
Especially when it is only something I have to
do because I must report it. I can’t use it for anything.”
(Farmer, on the spray journal)
“I knew that the activity in my company was going to change within a very short time, so I wanted to change my industry code. I knew that I was
going to call it crowdfunding, but I didn’t know
which industry code to use. I’m doing some kind
of financial intermediation, but I simply couldn’t
find an applicable code.”
(Owner of internet shops, on industry code site)
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Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goals
Goals
”It would be a good idea to have a map of your
fields, so you could mark the fields you were
reporting on and indicate the parts of the field
where you planted a different crop. You could
draw the ‘spray route’ in the map and the computer could calculate the total area.”
(Farmer, on the spray journal)
Legal documents, terminology and expert knowledge permeate many
of the public self-service solutions. As they are developed by the public
authorities themselves, they are often based on that authority’s own
language and knowledge. However, a successful digital self-service
solution should be based on the user’s needs and knowledge about the
area, as this will make it both easier and more attractive to use the site.
In the spray journal, for example, farmers desire an aerial photo of their
fields where they can mark their pesticide use. Providing a different
type of overview of the fields would make it easier to use the spray
journal than with the current solution, where each area is assigned a
number.
At the new industry code site, users are provided with examples of
companies with the same industry code. By recognising other companies, users feel more confident that they have chosen the correct
industry code.
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goal number 4:
The authorities involved must cooperate in the digital solutions.
“I took these papers and drove to the Tax Centre
in Fredensborg. The person who helped me complete the form there did not think that I needed to
enter the industry code, because the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency would determine
the code on their own. Because the Tax Centre
was unable to do that and the person who helped
me even called on two colleagues for assistance.”
(Pilates instructor and artist)
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Clear, user-friendly, simple
Goals
“If the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency
is in doubt, then they refer the companies to
Statistics Denmark. We do not have any crossorganisational cooperation. That would be quite
interesting. If nothing else, it would be interesting
for the agency to see how we work. Sometimes
I think: ‘How big of a difference can there really
be in the way we work and the way they work?’
We’re working with the same material!”
(Employee at Statistics Denmark)
“It would really improve our work if there was
a place we could see what the other authorities
were doing. For example, I was in contact with
Statistics Denmark regarding a specific case,
where we determined that the management of
one’s own personal assets should have a different
industry code than management of others’ assets.
I wrote a note about this in my industry code
book, but nobody else has access to this.”
(Employee at the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency)
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Goals
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Companies and citizens do not distinguish between the various bodies
when contacting the public authorities. They often expect that the authorities cooperate on the digital self-service solutions and that they only
have to send information to a single recipient. Designing a user-friendly
self-service solution therefore requires extensive cooperation between
the various public authorities.
The cooperation should be based on companies’ actual experiences and
processes. Insight into companies’ actual problems with public regulation
makes it clear to authorities why cooperation is necessary and how to
design self-service solutions in the most efficient way for all parties.
For example, a successful industry code site is dependent on the Danish
Commerce and Companies Agency, Statistics Denmark and the Danish
Tax Authority all participating in the development of the solution, as all of
these bodies are involved in the registration of industry codes and they all
desire reliable basic data.
Likewise, it is important that the Danish AgriFish Agency, which collects
data and performs pesticides inspections, cooperates with the Danish
Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for maintaining the
list of legal pesticides. These two bodies must jointly take responsibility
for ensuring that the solution farmers must use is user-friendly and based
on updated information, and thus is efficient for businesses and authorities alike.
When establishing cooperation between various authorities, it is expedient to use cross-organisational digital platforms that connect to the
internal system.
With regard to industry codes, the authorities have no procedures for
cooperating and no specific place to meet and exchange information. For
example, over a three-year period, Statistics Denmark uses DKK 100.000
on handling calls and e-mails regarding doubts about industry codes.
About half of these enquiries are forwarded from the Danish Commerce
and Companies Agency.
In the new solution for industry codes, a cross-organisational digital platform will secure knowledge sharing between bodies. Thus, the updated digital self-service solution does not require the unnecessary use of internal
resources on referring companies to other authorities.
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Borgerportræt
Ung skatteyder
Solution
Clear, user-friendly, simple
An efficient solution:
The industry code
site
The new industry code site transforms the goals to reality. This self-service solution is centred onusers and their needs, and features a new selfservice solution combined with a super user site for the case workers who
work with industry codes. The new industry code site makes it easier for
companies to find the right industry code while also streamlining the authorities’ workflow in this area. The business case prepared for the project
shows that a new industry code site will provide savings of DKK 24 million
over a period from 2011 to 2015, even after the costs of development and
operation are deducted.
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Clear, user-friendly, simple
Solution
Self-service solution:
Clear, simple and
user-friendly
Clear
The solution provides users with a sense of security by giving a clear explanation of what an industry code is, what the public authorities use the
industry code for, and why it is important to have an industry code (see 1).
Solution
Clear, user-friendly, simple
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1
User-friendly
The previous self-service solution was very difficult to navigate because
the search was structured according to the system’s logic. It required
users to solely use the words directly in the description of the industry
codes, e.g. “window polishing” instead of “window cleaning”. On the new
site, the search function is based on the words used by users to describe
their company. The business case shows that the new search function will
enable 8 out of 10 companies to find the correct industry code on their
own (see 2).
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Clear, user-friendly, simple
Solution
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Solution
The title of the industry code is shown in a large and clear font, followed by
the industry code itself, and an explanatory text quickly enables the user
to determine if the industry code is relevant (see 3).
The explanation is supplemented with examples of other companies with
the same industry code, so that users can compare and be certain that
they have chosen the right code (see 4).
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Simple
The previous self-service solution did not provide any help or confirmation that users had found the right code. It reflected the system’s understanding of the industry code, where the six-digit code is determined by
finding one digit at a time from the groups under the code. An industry
code was only complete when all six digits were found, but many users
stopped before finishing and therefore registered incomplete codes.
On the new site, users can only find a six-digit code and the results page
contains a number of elements to help assure users that they have found
the right industry code:
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The company is assisted with the next step and can register the industry
code on the same page (see 5).
A box has been inserted with a link to related industry codes, so users can
quickly navigate to descriptions of other industry codes and determine
the correct code (see 6).
Lastly, the most frequently asked questions regarding industry codes are
also presented (see 7).
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Clear, user-friendly, simple
Solution
Clear, user-friendly, simple
Solution
Super user site: cooperation across organisations and ongoing improvements
Cross-organisational cooperation
In the past, case workers and officials collected their own notes in separate industry code books. The new industry code site makes it possible to
share knowledge across organisations and ensure uniformity, ultimately
saving valuable time for the individual bodies. Selected case workers and
experts from the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency and Statistics
Denmark will be given access to this super user site (see 8).
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The super user site will enable the super users to see changes made by
other super users in the system and add comments on these changes.
For example, the addition of four new search words for a given industry
code (see 9) or information on a new type of business included in a given
industry code.
Ongoing improvements
The super users can also see which industry codes users spend the
most time locating, and how many clicks they use (see 10). This gives
the super users an idea of which codes are causing users the most
problems. Afterwards, they can either add more subject words to the
industry code or edit data on the master page for the industry code in
question (see 11, for example).
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Linking the overall self-service solution on branchekode.dk with the
super user site means that case workers and experts always have thorough knowledge of how the digital solution is used. This enables more
user-specific assistance and greater understanding of users’ needs
across the various public authorities. Meanwhile, super users’ daily use
of the site helps improve the site for companies by continually improving the search function and information offered to companies.
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