European Commission Benchmarking The Supply Side of Online Public Services

Quantitative data is used that includes counting and analysing government portals and websites according to specific criteria. The benchmark is based in the first place on the classical “web-based” assessment of public agencies  and web pages providing 20 public services. Collaborative interaction with, and information provided by the representatives of the participating countries is a second and important information source.

This 2007 measurement is based upon a method that has been modernised, to take into account new technological possibilities and insights. The existing framework has therefore been extended to include a fifth level of sophistication built around pro-activity and personalisation The measurement also recognises the significant advancement that hasbeen made by countries over the years. The measurements have been extended to assesson the one hand to what extent the services are built around the needs of the “customer”(being citizens and businesses) and on the other hand how easy it is to access theseservices through the national portal.Thus in this 2007 benchmark the following indicators have been measured:

• An online sophistication indicator based on a renewed 5 level model;
• An indicator on the number of public services fully available online, where fully
• available online will continue to be measured on the existing 4 level model. This indicator will allow the evaluation on a historical continue basis;
• User centricity indicators (a composite of four sub-indicators);
• An assessment of national portals that provides an indication of the service integration and consistency and branding of online government.

The assessment methodology aims to assess progress on governments' plans to make online public services accessible to all, including weaker social groups. However, no indicators measures accessability of sites with regard to different demographic groups, including women or the poor.

The indicator 'online sophistication' looks at five levels, that includes:

1. information
2. one-way interaction (downloadable forms)
3. two-way interaction (electronic forms)
4. transaction (full electronic case handling)
5. personalisation (pro-active service delivery and automatic service delivery based on the condition of the user, i.e. no need for the user to request the service)

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/benchmarking/...

The benchmarking is very actionable, detailing gaps in the supply of online services providing governments with an assessment that very easily can be translated into an action plan.

The benchmarking looks primarily at input indicators, and not on how the supply of online services is actually used by users, such as the unegqual awareness and use of these services by different social groups.