Report on the Assessment of the Study Visits

Synthesized Assessment of all Study Visits

Period: Jan–Jun 2012

Project Partner: BISTRITA

Project acronym: OSEPA
Project name: Open Source software usage by European Public Administrations
Project code: INTERREG IVC, 0918R2
Document Information:
Document title: Report on the assessment of the study visits
Date of Delivery: 29.06.2012
Component: CP3
Component Title: Exchange of Experience
Component Leader: USFD
Distribution (Restricted/Public): Restricted to the partners of the Consortium
Nature: Report
History Chart
Date / Changes / Cause of change / Implemented by
Initial Document / N/A / BISTRITA
Authorisation
No. / Action / Partner / Date
1 / Prepared / BISTRITA / 29/06/2012
2 / Approved
3 / Released
Disclaimer
The information in this document is subject to change without notice.
All rights reserved
The document is proprietary of the OSEPA Consortium. No copying or distributing, in any form or by any means, is allowed without the prior written agreement of the owner of the property rights. This document reflects only the authors’ view. The INTERREG Programme is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

1.Introduction

2.Study Visits

3.Reporting 1st OSEPA Study Visit (Stuttgart 8-9 June 2010)

3.1 Assessment of Programme

3.2 Assessment of composition of participants

3.3 Results

4.Reporting 2nd OSEPA Study Visit (SAMBRUK, Sweden, 30 June – 1 July 2010)

4.1 Evaluation of Training and Learning

4.2 Reactionaries

4.3 Conclusion of the Assessment feedback from Participants

5.Reporting 3rd OSEPA Study Visit (Fundecyt, Spain, 2-3 December, 2010)

5.1 Evaluation of Training and Learning

5.2 Reactionaries

5.3 Overall Evaluation of the Study Visit

6.Reporting 4th OSEPA Study Visit (The University of Sheffield, England, 7 April, 2011)

6.1 Study Visit

6.2 Evaluation of Training and Learning

6.3 Reactionaries

6.4 Conclusion of the Assessment feedback from Participants

7.Reporting 5th OSEPA Study Visit (Schoten, Belgium, 18-19 October, 2011)

7.1 Study Visit

7.2 Evaluation of Training and Learning

7.3 Reactionaries

7.4 Conclusion of the Assessment feedback from Participants

8.Reporting 6th OSEPA Study Visit (Jihlava, Czech Republic, 29-30 March 2012)

8.1 Study Visit

8.2 Evaluation of Training and Learning

8.3 Reactionaries

8.4 Conclusion

9.Conclusion

1.Introduction

OSEPA projectaims to promote knowledge and expertise sharing among public administrations. The major objective is to provide to those administrations less familiar with FOSS guidelines on how to proceed with its adoption, based on the experience of organizations which have already migrated to it.

So, OSEPA is dedicated toexchanging experiences in order to identify and analyze good practices. The main planned results of the project are to exchange knowledge and experiences on FOSS usage by European Public Administrations; gather, review, exchange, transfer best practices about FOSS uptake and related policies.

The main parts of the project are:

Survey of current FOSS usage in consortium countries and in some EU non-consortium countries (reaching at least 20 countries). The survey will tackle current use of FOSS, attitudes and experiences, readiness assessment, inhibitors, etc
A requirements analysis and guidelines on software procurement policies of European Public Administrations
Interregional events (9 Workshops, 6 Study Visits & 6 Site Visits) aiming to facilitate the exchange of experiences and also 2 European Conferences
A Good Practice Guide on FOSS uptake among European Public Administrations (aiming to collect and consolidate concrete evidence helping policy makers and experts to shape their own policies)
Analysis and recommendations on European and National Policies and practices on FOSS (aiming to offer a policy overview that will make comprehensible the dynamics, the potential, the inhibitors and the policy obstacles related to FOSS adoption).

OSEPA project aims also to promote interregional co-operation through Workshops, Site Visits and Study Visits.

The Workshops focus on reviewing good practice cases and exploring on how/when FOSS can be successfully adopted and deliver productivity /cost/strategy gains.

The objective of the Site Visits is:

To promote bilateral assessment of policies (that will remain confidential)
To feed a comparative analysis of existing practice (that, as a synthesis, will became available to all European Public Administrations and contribute to influence the relevant policy debate).

2.Study Visits

The purpose of the Study Visits is to offer consortium partners (and other EPAs’ representatives) the opportunity to exchanging knowledge and experiences in various themes of FOSS usage by EPAs. The Interregional Study Visits will focus on reviewing cases of good practice at a micro -level exploring and brainstorming on how/when FOSS can be successfully adopted and deliver productivity /cost/strategy gains. Themes will include topics such as the following: FOSS that is currently in use or could be used by Pas, Readiness / Stance of staff, Technical aspect of migration to FOSS, Issues with language, getting technical support for FOSS etc. (as well as topics that may arise during the project definition phase). Depending on the importance and the developments in the field, specific topics may be addressed in more than one workshop.

The acquirement of operational and technical knowledge is expected to influence debates on relevant EPA’s policies.

The OSEPA project includes 6 Study Visits, as follows: the first one in Stuttgart (MFG), Germany; and then in Malmö (SAMBRUK), Sweden and Lyngby-Taarbaek, Denmark; the 3rd one in Extremadura (FUNDECYT), Spain; Schoten, Belgium; Sheffield (USFD), England; and the last one in Vysocina, Czech Republic.

3.Reporting 1st OSEPA Study Visit (Stuttgart 8-9 June 2010)

In 8-9 June 2010, the first OSEPA Study Visit took place in Stuttgart organized by the Public Innovation Agencyfor ICT and Media, MFG Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The purpose of the Study Visit was to make available the know-how already adopted by FOSS more experienced users.

Representatives of organizations that have adopted FOSS and other experts were there discussing about best practices and sharing acquired knowledge and experience from the users of FOSS.Among the speakers: Thomas Uhl (TopalisAG), Benjamin Schumacher(ITOMIG GmbH/Böblingen), JanVerlinden(Schoten),HorstBräuner(SchwäbischCity Hall), and OliverSchulze (Agorum Software)

Thus, the programme was the following: first of all, the Open Source Network LiSoG and its project to build up an Open Source Stack offering a complete OSS environment from Hardware to Desktop was presented. Furthermore, two speakers representing public administrations from the Land Baden-Württemberg – the City of Schwäbisch Hall and the City of Böblingen – talked about their Open Source Best Practices. Last but not least an Open Source company – Agorum Core Gmbh – presented its document management solutions for Public Administrations and how these were applied in the City of Schwäbisch Hall.

The Study Visit also hosted a world café workshop, allowing for further discussions on FOSS issues as well as networking opportunities among the participants.

The subsequent assessment is mainly based on a questionnaire that has been sent to the participants after the Study Visit.

3.1 Assessment of Programme

Participants appreciated that several perspectives were presented during the visit and that they had the chance to listen to quite a lot of speakers. Yet, the overallassessment shows that some participants would nevertheless have preferred going“on the ground” and visiting a public administration in the region.

On the first day a so called World Café was organized which enabled participants to enter in a true dialogue. The World Café is an innovative methodology for hosting conversations. These conversations link and build on each other as people move between groups, cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into the questions or issues that are most important to a specific theme field. For the World Café within the OSEPA Study Visit the following questions were suggested to be discussed:

- Open Source Document Management: how to improve office filing?

- Open Source: cost saving and mission critical – is it possible?

- Open Source Solutions: How to increase interoperability?

This type of discussion was appreciated by most participants as shows this comment in the questionnaire: “The methodology of the Interactive World Café is very appropriated for the discussion of the proposed topics.” Nevertheless, some participants criticized that too less time was foreseen for that format and therefore there had not been the chance to go really into detail. This should been taken into account when opting for a similar discussion format in another Study Visit. Furthermore, a bigger group would have been an advantage for implementing such a format as discussions would then become livelier.

3.2Assessment of composition of participants

As described above, it would have been an advantage if some more experts would have taken part in the Study Visit because more perspectives and inputs from different actors would have been reflected. Nevertheless, participants were very active in debating relevant questions and the time for questions after presentations was always used completely. This shows that there was a high interest in the topic and in the presentations.

Nevertheless, there was the problem of the heterogeneity of the group that took part in the Study Visit. Some of them had a political background and others had a technical background. It is very difficult to combine these two interests and needs. This is reflected in the questionnaire where one participant comments that he would have preferred a more political focus. When being asked what should be added to the programme he answers“Presentations by politicians”. Another participant criticizes that the Study Visit was only partly relevant to his work because issues have “not [been] discussed in depth technical”.

For the next Study Visit, a clear focus should be defined: either technical or political. Based on that focus, the project partners should define which experts they send to the Visit.

3.3 Results

Altogether, this was a successful first Study Visit with concrete outputs. All participants evaluated that the Study Visit was very useful (scoring 5 or 6 out of 6 when asked about the usefulness) or at least useful (scoring 4 out of 6).

The City of Schoten, OSEPA project partner, has decided to apply the Open Source Document Management System by Agorum which was presented during the Study Visit and which has already proved to be successful in the City of Schwäbisch Hall. These positive results are summed up by the assessment of Jan Verlinden, IT Manager of the City of Schoten. He describes his learning effects as follows: “Schwäbisch Hall: process manager to make processes more performant before new application is introduced- hope we can succeed in engaging one in Schoten.

4.Reporting 2nd OSEPA Study Visit (SAMBRUK, Sweden, 30 June – 1 July 2010)

In 30th ofJune – 1st of July 2010 the second Study Visit of the OSEPA project took place in the cities of Malmö, Sweden and Lyngby-Taarbaek, Denmark. During the Study Visit the participants were given the opportunity to study best practice cases of migration to FOSS from both the demand and the supply side as well as to explore other FOSS products for communication services.

The Study Visit agenda included the following topics: local/national OSS repositories versus OSOR – the Danish version, the supplier perspective, OS best practices - Lyngby-Taarbaek Municipality (from 100% Microsoft Municipality to an OS environment; OSS products for telephony, call mgmt and voice dictating system), the Service Platform project in Lyngby-Taarbaek, case study – city of Roskilde. Among the speakers:Jens Kjellerup (Lyngby-Taarbaek Municipality), Morten Kristoffer Hansen (Danish Ministry of Science and Technology),Allan Ramsby (Lyngby-Taarbaek Municipality), Morten Kjaersgaard (Danish OSS suppliers association), Claes-Olof Olson (SAMBRUK).

4.1 Evaluation of Training and Learning

The assessment questions were designed to:

a) Determine what the participants have learned

b) Get useful feedback, to help with future Study Visit planning

4.2Reactionaries

4.3 Conclusion of the Assessment feedback from Participants

The participants’ feedback indicates that the Study Visit session in Lyngby-Taarbaek was well structured and conducted. The majority of the Participants’ learning objectives were met and the overall impression given was that the Study Visit time was well spent as a constructive and productive event.

5.Reporting 3rd OSEPA Study Visit (Fundecyt, Spain, 2-3 December, 2010)

The 3rd Study Visit of the OSEPA project was held in the region of Extremadura, Spain, during 2nd and 3rd of December 2010. The organization of the visit was provided by Fundecyt , where experiences was gathered by private organizations and public agencies of the region, that presented its relationship with Free Software to the experts involved.

The program began at the headquarters of Fundecyt with a presentation of the “Omnibus Project” by the Spanish company Complusoft, presentation followed by a visit to the New Knowledge Centre. The participants in the Study Visit were able to see firsthand the implementation model of the Free Software in Extremadura health system and also to visit a Secondary School in which open source tools were used to manage classes.

Through the Study Visit in Extremadura, the consortium partners (and other EPAs’ representatives) had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences in various themes of FOSS usage by EPAs. The Interregional Study Visit focuses on reviewing cases of good practice at a micro -level in this region exploring and brainstorming on how/when FOSS can be successfully adopted and deliver productivity /cost/strategy gains. Themes included topics such as the following:

-FOSS that is currently in use or could be used by Pas, as for instance the case of the New Centers of Knowledge in Extremadura

-Technical aspect of migration to FOSS, as was the example on Jara project in the Public Health System, etcetera.

5.1 Evaluation of Training and Learning

The assessment questions were designed to:

a) Determine what the participants have learned

b) Get useful feedback, to help with future Study Visit planning

5.2Reactionaries

Reactionaries aim to obtain the reactions of Study Visit participants to matters outside the evaluation of the learning itself. Through “Reactionaries', useful data can be obtained to help plan future Study Visits. The main purpose of reaction evaluation is to enhance the quality of training programs, which in turn leads to improved performance.

5.3Overall Evaluation of the Study Visit

The overall evaluation of the Study Visit has been very positive, in general, from the point of view of the experts involved.

Topics were interesting and useful and the programme was well balanced, offering the possibility to examine use in practice (school, Women´s House – OSS for adult learners).

A general opinion is that Extremadura’s OSS adoption in PA’s could be a solution for money saving.

Also, the evaluation shows a relevant interest regarding the e-Health care applications and policies.

6.Reporting 4th OSEPA Study Visit (The University of Sheffield, England, 7 April, 2011)

6.1 Study Visit

The forth OSEPA Study Visit – organized by The University of Sheffield – was held in Sheffield in 7 April 2011. Department of Computer Science had the chance to present their Best Practices to the experts of the OSEPA Project.

Themes included the following topics:

Sam Allaby - Open source in business and organizations and its adoption in the UK
Visit to Genesys
Professor Mike Holcombe - Using FOSS in practical software development in a university context
David Speake CICS - CiCS' strategy for and use of open-source software
Professor Babak Akhgar - Critical Success Factors for Knowledge Driven Smart Cities (KDSC)

6.2 Evaluation of Training and Learning

The consolidated assessments of the participants of the Study Visit were designed to determine what the participants have learned and get useful feedback, to help with future Study Visit planning.

6.3 Reactionaries

6.4 Conclusion of the Assessment feedback from Participants

The participants’ feedback indicates that the Study Visit session to the Department of Computer Science form The University of Sheffield was well structured and conducted. The majority of the Participants’ learning objectives were met and the overall impression given was that the Study Visit time was well spent as a constructive and productive event.

7.Reporting 5th OSEPA Study Visit (Schoten, Belgium, 18-19 October, 2011)

7.1 Study Visit

The sixth OSEPA Study Visit was held in Schoten from 18-19 October, 2011.

The first day of the study visit took place in the Castle of Schoten where the city of Schoten organized a hands-on lab where you could learn about a large palette of open source solutions in 25 different sessions. Each participant could attend 5 different sessions of his interest. The sessions were grouped together into 5 tracks: android communication, best cases for big public administrations, best cases for municipalities and tracks of open source solutions by small and medium enterprises.

The participants learned about Drupal websites, android apps, libre office, proxmox, security, cloud computing, etc. (cfr

During the pauses they had the opportunity to exchange views with other participants interested in open source software. The hands-on labs were attended by 6 different partners of the OSEPA consortium: Vysocina Region, Sambruk, CTI, LPS, Bistriţa and the Emilia-Romagna region. Also a lot of people from local Belgian municipalities and cities came to the hands-on labs to learn about open source software.

The second day was held in the town hall of Schoten. Kurt Vermeiren, the elected representative from Schoten responsible for ICT, talked about the use of open source from a political point of view. Afterwards the experiences of Schoten with different open source solutions were explained by ICT manager Jan Verlinden. The open source company Inuits explained their experience in building open source solutions for different municipal processes. In the afternoon there was a visit of the IT-infrastructure of Schoten.