About
The success and impact of digital government services cannot only be measured by looking at the wealth of available applications and the number of services that can be realised online. What counts is the actual use among citizens, businesses and public organisations.
The interactive Co-VAL Dashboard includes an inventory of key performance indicators on digital government in EU member states, the United Kingdom and six advanced cities. It reveals that the so-called uptake of digital government services is often captured by survey-based data such as DESI. At the same time, it points to a number of leading countries that have made an effort to generate uptake data in an automatic way through their digital services. Moreover, these countries increasingly make these machine-generated data publicly available through dedicated dashboards, data portals or reports. The kind of data and the way of presenting these data varies highly between and sometimes within countries. Some countries have a consolidated dashboard showing uptake statistics on multiple key services in one place. Other countries have dedicated websites for a specific service. Some countries update their data on a monthly basis, others once a year. Some countries provide data in machine readable format, others embed the data in a pdf report.
The Digital Government MetaMonitor aims to make sense of and appraise these variations through the Digital Government MetaIndex (beta). For different groups of service stakeholders (citizens, businesses and public sector institutions) it assesses the completeness, update frequency and machine readability of uptake data on five key digital services: eID, ePayment, Messaging, Transparency and General Digital Services and brings the original uptake data of nine European countries at the forefront of digital government monitoring together in one place.
Is the relevant data available? How often is it updated? Is it available in machine-readable format? These three questions have guided the meta-analysis of the selected key uptake indicators.
The data were collected through desk research of government dashboards, open data portals, other websites and reports. The collected or calculated values refer to the period of one year and were assembled for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. For indicators, which have no relevance in a given country, because the reviewed service doesn’t exist, the value “NR” has been assigned. NA is noted for indicators that are relevant, but for which no data has been found The table below shows the full list of 51 indicators and definitions, grouped according to topic and subtopic.
| TOPIC | SUBTOPIC | INDICATOR | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| eID | Overall uptake | Activated eID accounts (total) | The numbers of user accounts created for the national eID system, absolute value and as percentage of total users (population over 15 years old and total number of businesses)(cumulative) |
| eID | Overall uptake | eID transactions (total) | The annual number of personal and business logins and digital signatures realised using the national eID, absolute value and per user (population over 15 years old and total number of businesses) |
| eID | Overall uptake | eID app downloads | The number of downloads of the eID app, absolute value and per inhabitant over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| eID | Overall uptake | eID app installations | The number of installations of the eID app, absolute value and per inhabitant over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| eID | Overall uptake | eID-powered services (total) | The number of services provided by public sector organisations or private companies which can be accessed using the national eID system (cumulative) |
| eID | Overall uptake | eID-powered organisations | The number of organisations performing either public or private tasks, which provide access to digital services through the national eID system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of public and private service providers (cumulative) |
| eID | Personal uptake | Activated eID accounts (personal) | The number of personal accounts created for the national eID system, absolute value and as percentage of the population over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| eID | Personal uptake | eID transactions (personal) | The annual number of personal logins and digital signatures realised using the national eID, absolute value and per 1000 inhabitants over 15 years old |
| eID | Personal uptake | Digital proxy registrations | The number of digital proxies created by citizens since the start of the service, absolute value and per inhabitant over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| eID | Business uptake | Activated eID accounts (business) | The number of business accounts created or authorisations for the national eID system, absolute value and as percentage of the total number of businesses (cumulative) |
| eID | Business uptake | eID transactions (business) | The annual number of business logins and digital signatures realised using the national eID, absolute value and per business |
| eID | Business uptake | eID-powered private services | The number of services provided by private companies which can be accessed using the national eID system (cumulative) |
| eID | Business uptake | eID-powered private service providers | The number of businesses providing access to digital services through the national eID system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of businesses (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | eID-powered public services | The number of services provided by public sector organisations which can be accessed using the national eID system (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | eID-powered public service providers (total) | The number of organisations providing access to digital public services through the national eID system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | eID-powered central/federal governments | The number of organisations from central/federal government providing access to digital services through the national eID system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from central/federal government (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | eID-powered regions | The number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government providing access to digital services through the national eID system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | eID-powered municipalities | The number of municipalities providing access to digital services through the national eID system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of municipalities (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | eID-powered other administrations | The number of other organisations (non-central/federal, non-regional and non-municipal) providing access to digital public services through the national eID system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of other organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | Digital proxy-powered services | The number of public services which can be accessed by a citizen acting on behalf of another citizen through a digital proxy (cumulative) |
| eID | Public sector uptake | Digital proxy-powered organisations | The number of public organisations enabling citizens to act as digital proxy for another citizen in the use of their digital services, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| eID | Private sector support | eID providers | The number of private sector organisations, which have developed an eIDAS compliant eID-module (cumulative) |
| ePayment | Overall uptake | ePayment transactions | The annual number of transactions realised by citizens using the national ePayment system, absolute value and per inhabitant over 15 years old |
| ePayment | Overall uptake | ePayment value | The annual value of ePayment transactions realised by citizens, total amount and per inhabitant over 15 years old |
| ePayment | Public sector uptake | ePayment-powered public service providers (total) | The number of organisations providing the possibility to pay for public services through the national ePayment system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| ePayment | Public sector uptake | ePayment-powered central/federal governments | The number of organisations from central/federal government providing the possibility to pay for public services through the national ePayment system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from central/federal government (cumulative) |
| ePayment | Public sector uptake | ePayment-powered regions | The number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government providing the possibility to pay for public services through the national ePayment system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government (cumulative) |
| ePayment | Public sector uptake | ePayment-powered municipalities | The number of municipalities providing the possibility to pay for public services through the national ePayment system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of municipalities (cumulative) |
| ePayment | Public sector uptake | ePayment-powered other administrations | The number of other organisations (non-central/federal, non-regional and non-municipal) providing the possibility to pay for public services through the national ePayment system, in absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of other organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| ePayment | Private sector support | ePayment providers | The cumulative number of organisations which have developed a government ePayment system |
| Messaging | Overall uptake | Digital mail app downloads | The number of downloads of the government digital mail app, absolute value and per inhabitant over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Overall uptake | Digital mail app installations | The number of installations of the government digital mail app, absolute values and and per inhabitant over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Personal uptake | Digital mail registrations (personal) | The number of citizens who have a government digital mail account, absolute value and as a percentage of the population over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Personal uptake | Government SMS registrations (personal) | The number of citizens who registered for the government SMS service, absolute value and as a percentage of the population over 15 years old (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Business uptake | Digital mail registrations (business) | The number of businesses which have a government digital mail account, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of businesses (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Digital mail-powered organisations | The number of organisations communicating with citizens and businesses through the national digital mail system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Digital mail-powered central/federal governments | The number of organisations from central/federal government communicating with citizens and businesses through the national digital mail system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from central/federal government (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Digital mail-powered regions | The number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government communicating with citizens and businesses through the national digital mail system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Digital mail-powered municipalities | The number of municipalities communicating with citizens and businesses through the national digital mail system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of municipalities (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Digital mail-powered other administrations | The number of other organisations (non-central/federal, non-regional and non-municipal) communicating with citizens and businesses through the national digital mail system, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of other organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Government SMS sent (personal) | The annual number of messages sent to citizens through the government SMS service, absolute value and per inhabitant over 15 years old |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Digital mail sent (personal) | The annual number of messages sent to citizens through Digital Mail, absolute value and per inhabitant over 15 years old |
| Messaging | Public sector uptake | Digital mail sent (business) | The annual number of messages sent to businesses through Digital Mail, absolute value and per business |
| Transparency | Public sector uptake | Myaffairs-powered organisations | The number of organisations offering insight in personal ongoing affairs (e.g. permit request) through the central government portal, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| Transparency | Public sector uptake | Myaffairs-powered central/federal governments | The number of organisations from central/federal government offering insight in personal ongoing affairs (e.g. permit request) through the central government portal, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from central/federal government (cumulative) |
| Transparency | Public sector uptake | Myaffairs-powered regions | The number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government offering insight in personal ongoing affairs (e.g. permit request) through the central government portal, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of organisations from state, provincial and other regional government (cumulative) |
| Transparency | Public sector uptake | Myaffairs-powered municipalities | The number of municipalities offering insight in personal ongoing affairs (e.g. permit request) through the central government portal, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of municipalities (cumulative) |
| Transparency | Public sector uptake | Myaffairs-powered other administrations | The number of other organisations (non-central/federal, non-regional and non-municipal) offering insight in personal ongoing affairs (e.g. permit request) through the central government portal, absolute value and as a percentage of the total number of other organisations performing public tasks (cumulative) |
| Transparency | Public sector uptake | Mydata availability | The total number of registers from which citizens can access their personal data via the central government portal (cumulative value) |
| General digital services | Personal uptake | Digital form submission | The number of realised digital service transactions as a percentage of the total number of public service transactions (per year) |
| General digital services | Personal uptake | User satisfaction | The annual share of citizens over 15 years old primarily satisfied with the ease of use of digital government services |
Methodology
The results are presented as a score between 0 (low publishing status) and 1 (high publishing status) for each subtopic.The MetaIndex Matrix on the homepage demonstrates the high variation between both countries and key topics in the way in which digital government uptake data is published.
The Digital Government MetaIndex (beta) is calculated by weighing the scores for completeness (0.5), update frequency (0.25) and machine readability (0.25) at the subtopic level (e.g. public sector uptake of ePayment, business uptake of Messaging) for the 2020 data.
To illustrate the calculation, it is applied to the example of the subtopic “eID/Personal Uptake” in Denmark.
Completeness
The meta-indicator Completeness measures the proportion of relevant and available indicator data within one subtopic
Only relevant indicators are taken into account in the calculation, so countries won’t be punished for not having a particular service. What counts is whether uptake data is published on the digital services that a country has put in place.
For instance, the subtopic eID/personal uptake consists of three indicators: Activated eID accounts (personal), eID transactions (personal) and.Digital proxy registrations. If a country has an eID system, which allows for the creation of digital proxy accounts, all three indicators are of relevance in the given country. If this country publishes data on two out of these three indicators, it will score ⅔ = 0.7 on completeness.Another country may have an eID system, which doesn’t allow for the creation of digital proxy accounts. In that case, only the first two indicators are of relevance in the given country. If that country publishes data on both of these indicators, it will score 2/2=1 on completeness.
| Uptake Indicator | Completeness | Score for calculation MetaIndex |
| Activated eID accounts (personal) | Data available | 1 |
| eID transactions (personal) | Not Available | 0 |
| Digital proxy registrations | Data available | 1 |
| Personal uptake of eID | (1+0+1)/3 = 0.66 |
Machine readability
The meta indicator Machine Readability measures whether the public data on digital government uptake is made available in a format that can be automatically read and processed by a computer, such as CSV, JSON, XLSX and XML.
For instance, is data on the number of digital mails sent to citizens made available in a non machine readable format, such as pdf or html or can it be downloaded as a JSON file? In some cases, this meta-indicator is not relevant (NR), because the uptake indicator in question is not available.
Machine Readability can have one of the following values. The applied score for the calculation of the MetaIndex is indicated between brackets:
Yes (1)
No (0)
NR = No value
| Uptake Indicator | Machine readability | Score for calculation MetaIndex |
| Activated eID accounts (personal) | No | 0 |
| eID transactions (personal) | Not Relevant | Not counted |
| Digital proxy registrations | No | 0 |
| Personal uptake of eID | (0+0)/2 = 0 |
Update frequency
The meta-indicator Update Frequency measures how often new data on a digital government uptake indicator is published.
For instance, how often is new data on the number of activated eID accounts made publicly available? In some cases, the update frequency is mentioned explicitly (e.g. monthly), in other cases this meta-indicator is not available (NA), because it is not stated how often the data is updated and in yet other cases, this meta-indicator is not relevant (NR), because the uptake indicator in question is not available.
N.B. This indicator focuses on the most recent data available and doesn’t take into account whether or not historical data of an indicator is published.
Update Frequency can have one of the following values. The applied score for the calculation of the MetaIndex is indicated between brackets: :
- daily (1)
- weekly (1)
- monthly (0.75)
- quarterly (0.5)
- biannually (0.5)
- yearly (0.25)
- NA (0)
- NR (no value)
| Uptake Indicator | Update frequency | Score for calculation MetaIndex |
|---|---|---|
| Activated eID accounts (personal) | Monthly | 0.75 |
| eID transactions (personal) | Not Relevant | Not counted |
| Digital proxy registrations | Not Available | 0 |
| Personal uptake of eID | (0.75+0)/2 = 0.38 |
Overall score
The MetaIndex score for a given subtopic is calculated according to the following formula:
METAINDEX = (50*General data completeness+25*Machine readability+25*Update frequency)/100
Example: Personal uptake of eID in Denmark
METAINDEX eID/personal uptake Denmark = 0.5*0.66+0.25*0+0.25*0.38 = 0.4
Open Data
The data of the MetaMonitor are available under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 licence. You can the data from the Country pages (in structured JSON files), or the entire dataset in CSV format.