Digital detectives put administrative processes under the microscope

Making the authority even smarter and more citizen-friendly: This is the goal of the "Digital Detectives" project that the Waldeck-Frankenberg district has launched in its district administration. Trainees and young junior staff are dedicated to digitising administration, improving processes and actively shaping administration. Along the way, they further develop their digital skills and get to know innovative tools.

Everything does not always have to be done this way just because it has always been done this way: that is the credo of the digital detectives of the district administration. The young junior staff of the district want one thing above all: to question processes in the organisation and make them even better together - also and especially with the help of digital possibilities as a catalyst for the modernisation of the administration. The common goal is to make processes even more efficient and, above all, more citizen-friendly. And all of this combined with fun and teamwork.

Questioning the existing, strengthening innovation
To this end, the district has launched the "Digital Detectives" project. "We want to activate and motivate trainees and students to take a critical look at existing processes and encourage these young people to question existing procedures in our administration and to try out new things - even if not everything works right away. The free economy shows us how it's done. Innovations only come about when people dare to try something new, are not afraid to try something out and are allowed to make mistakes in a protected space," says District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst. "Only if we question ourselves can we improve processes and strengthen our innovative power. To do this, we want to include ideas and perspectives from young people."

Contributing ideas
In this context, the project manager for digitalisation at the district Nastasia Sluzalek and the process manager Oliver Merhof founded the team of "Digital Detectives" in cooperation with Fachdienst Personal, who can actively participate in the improvement of processes within the framework of the project. Through the project, the young professionals and junior staff became even more intensively involved with the contents of digitalisation and process management. By expanding their digital skills, they can also contribute ideas from their own subject areas. For the project, the young professionals were therefore also equipped with mobile devices. This means they can use them anywhere and at any time, for example to digitally follow up on content at school or university and to use it online.

One of the first issues that the digital detectives tackled was the processing of official travel. True to the motto: Why waste time filling out application forms when it can be done easily? In future, travel applications and invoices will be possible online for everyone. This saves paper and time. Another project is the integration of a digital chat bot to help citizens find information more quickly. The digital detectives are also working on this. And they will also be at the start of this year's nationwide Digitaltag: they will interview visitors to the district hall in order to better understand their needs and concerns - and to derive concrete measures for action for the administration. The goal: to improve work processes and further increase citizen service.

Breaking silothinking
"This new way of thinking is a great enrichment for the administration," the district administrator continues. "Our goal is to break through silo thinking and to rethink administration - also from the perspective of our young junior staff." For this reason, the "digital detectives" will in future also be more closely involved in the work of the "Innovation Team", a cross-departmental working group that deals with constructive innovations in the district administration. "We want to show young people from the very beginning that we see and hear them and their ideas. The aim is to avoid that we as an administration self-administer on a status quo and do not question," add Nastasia Sluzalek and Oliver Merhof. "However, the whole thing must of course be implemented with moderation and feeling. It must not become old against young, but learning from and with each other. A balance between routines and innovations is particularly important.

Keywords:

Digitisation of the Administration Information Technology and Digital Administration Service