Methodological approaches to assessing the digitalisation of public administration and public services

Abstract

Subject. Digitalisation is a global trend in the evolution and transformation of public administration systems. The developed methodological approaches, which allow assessing the effectiveness of this process and determining its impact on the socio-economic dynamics of states, strive to catch up with the rapid development of modern information and communication technologies. What is more, the government often acts as a driving force for the introduction of these technologies. The existing international, national, and regional methods of assessment are based on criteria and indicators which depend on the analytical purposes. Such criteria are developed within different databases and focus on different aspects of the digitalisation of public administration. It is important to analyse and monitor the outcomes and conditions of digital processes in public administration as well as the demand for them. Such analysis and motoring contribute to information management required for the implementation of other state functions.Objectives. The research is aimed at achieving the following research objectives: to analyse the state of the existing system of assessment of digitalisation in the area of public administration with due account of current assessment trends, to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the existing methods, to develop an original approach to their classification, and to search for optimisation opportunities. Methodology. The dialectical method and the methods of analysis and synthesis were used to achieve these objectives. The study is based on the contemporary achievements in the methods for assessing the digitalisation of public administration described in relevant research papers and regulations.Conclusions. The peculiarities of existing methods for assessing the digitalisation of public administration are due to both the peculiarities of the analysed object and the needs of the users of the analytical information. In this regard, we propose an original classification of assessment approaches, which consists of the following groups of methods: methods that assess the digitalisation conditions (group 1), the results of digitalisation in terms of available public services (group 2) and in terms of satisfaction of the main stakeholders: the public, businesses, state bodies, government agencies, and their employees (group 3). As a way of optimisation, it was considered whether it would be relevant to include indicators of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in public administration.