Digital transformation going local: implementation, impacts and constraints from a German perspective

Figures & data

Figure 1. Assessing impacts of digitalization in the local public sector.

Table 1. Surveys conducted.

	Target group	Sample	Respondents
City survey (all German cities >15, 000 inhabitants)	Mayors	N = 721	221; 30,7%
	Staff councils	N = 746	263; 35,3%
Citizen survey (in the three case study cities)	Karlsruhe	Random sample: 6,000	1171; 19,5%
	Bochum	Random sample: 2,000	418; 21%
	Mannheim	Survey at the local one-stop shop	N = 201
Staff survey (in two of the three case study cities)	Staff in local one stop-shop, Bochum	N = 75	40; 53,3%
	Staff in local one stop-shop, Karlsruhe	N = 135	70; 51,9%

Table 2. Digital maturity in German local one-stop shops (the 10 most important services offered).

Service	Information available online	Partially processed online (forms, emails)	Fully processed online	N
Passports	75%	25%	5%	210
Certificates (birth/marriage)	71%	25%	9%	119
Criminal records	71%	27%	13%	188
Registration of residency	61%	36%	7%	197
Authentication of certificates	89%	10%	3%	149
Dog registration	71%	33%	6%	122
Residents’ parking permits	76%	18%	9%	103
Parking permits for people with disabilities	80%	22%	1%	106
Housing benefits	76%	22%	4%	78
Vehicle registration (only county-free cities)	75%	24%	7%	68

Source: Question in city survey of mayors: ‘Which of your local one-stop shop services are available online and to what extent?’

Table 3. Positive and negative impacts of digitalization on staff.

Perceived impacts of digitalization by staff	Fully & quite relevant	Rather not & not at all relevant	N
Positive impacts
Increased transparency in processing status	67.2%	32.8%	64
Usual opening hours and workdays less relevant	65.7%	34.4%	67
Overall time reduction in procedures	62.3%	37.7%	69
Simplified administrative procedures	61.2%	38.8%	67
Reduced workload	38.8%	61.2%	67
Negative impacts
Constant availability	86.9%	13%	69
Technical problems	84%	15.9%	69
Problems with software and service providers	77.6%	22.4%	67
Additional processing time per case	76.4%	23.5%	68
Feeling of being controlled	72.3%	27.7%	65
Shifting working time from front to back office	67.7%	32.4%	68

Source: Staff survey.

Figure 2. Reasons for citizens not to use local online services.

Figure 3. Reasons against expanding the online offer across all age groups. Values for the ‘very important’ category in the citizen survey.