eServices brings increased efficiencies into the Finnish Ministry of Justice
“eServices have enabled us to meet the project’s efficiency goals. In practice, this shows in faster, smoother application handling. We’ve also achieved the HR savings we were seeking, which has improved productivity.” Merja Muilu, Senior Counsellor, Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice maintains and develops Finland’s judicial system and legal safeguards.
It also maintains the country’s democratic structures and the fundamental rights of citizens. The Ministry is responsible for the drafting of key laws, ensuring that the judicial system functions well, and overseeing the enforcement of sentences. Approximately 10,000 employees work within the Ministry’s administrative sphere.
The Department of Judicial Administration is one of the Ministry’s three departments. It provides and improves the basis for well-functioning courts and state legal aid offices, as well as developing their activities. The National Administrative Office for Enforcement, concerned with activities such as the enforcement and collection of court-imposed fines, also falls under this department.
The Challenge
The Ministry of Justice needed to reorganise its activities in response to Finland’s public sector productivity programme. In practice, this meant performing the same duties as before, but more efficiently and faster. As the older generation move towards retirement, they would also have fewer people to do the work.
eServices for State legal aid offices and civil enforcement is the only way to guarantee a prompt and fair service. It also presents the opportunity to exceed the Ministry’s productivity goals. The civil enforcement system was renewed at the beginning of the 2000s. Alongside legislative changes, this has only increased the need for direct electronic interaction with citizens and companies.
Our Answer
Together with the ICT-service centre serving the Ministry, Logica has built operative systems that include eService portals. Since spring 2010, the Romeo application allows clients, or their
lawyers, to file legal aid applications online. From there, the applications move directly into Romeo’s data warehouses, making the interaction with legal aid offices faster and easier for clients and lawyers.
At national level, another information system, Uljas, handles civil enforcement. This system
has proven its worth by exceeding its goals for speed, cost-effectiveness, legal safeguards and
reliability.
As a result, the ministry can focus on the essentials: legal safeguards for debtors and efficient debt recovery. Payment collection has also improved. A new feature is eServices for
citizens and partners. In both content and scope, during its creation this system was one of the
public sector’s largest IT system development projects.
Key Benefits
eServices enable
- faster, higher quality services for citizens and employees
- smoother application handling and better anticipation of workloads
- cost-efficiency, by freeing staff from routine work to focus on expert tasks
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