Dear Visitors to the Official Site of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,
From 1 July 2007, it has now been possible for you to receive information on the undertakings of Ukraine's Legislative Body, from the English version of the Official Site of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Please find below a summary of our achievements and plans for setting-up an e-Parliament in Ukraine, and improving the interaction between Parliament, the Voters, and Civil Society. To provide you with an opportunity of familiarizing yourselves with the current stage of launching the Information and Communication Technologies in The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, we would bring to your attention the Report presented at The International Conference of E-Parliaments 2007 "Challenges and Advantages of Information and Communication Technologies in Parliamentary Processes"
(Geneva, 11 October 2007)
With kindest regards
Valentyn Zaichuk, Secretary General of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Challenges of Setting up an e-Parliament in Ukraine
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine welcomes the efforts of Inter-Parliamentary Union and other respectful international organizations aimed at strengthening the role of parliaments and efficient application of information and computer technologies in legislative processes of every national parliament as well as development of effective forms of cooperation with constituency.
The application of information and computer technologies is top priority for the operation of the supreme legislative authority in Ukraine. We view it as an integral part of e-government, ensuring the automation of all stages of legislative processes in the Parliament, its cooperation with people, civic organizations, state authorities and the Parliaments of other countries.
The current information system of the Verkhovna Rada implies modern technology, which provides effective support of legislative activities, cooperation with people, civic organizations and international community.
Currently we are developing a new information system for the Verkhovna Rada «E-filing, circulation and monitoring of effective implementation of the Verkhovna Rada resolutions». The new system is designed to absorb the functions of several different old systems which were used in the past: "Monitoring of draft laws processing", "Automatic document circulation" and "People´s Deputies´ and the Verkhovna Rada Resolutions Inquiry System». The new information system under way will help create a unified informational environment which will offer better opportunities for processing and monitoring the implementation of legislative document at any stage of its life-cycle.
The system is designed for:
automation of information and administrative operations of MPs, Committees Administration of Verkhovna Rada and leaders of Verkhovna Rada ;
providing sufficient informational resources for the MPs, their assistants, consultants, management and experts for addressing the challenges of the Ukrainian legislative process, processing incoming, outgoing and internal correspondence and monitoring implementation efforts;
supporting efficient coordination of MPs with the Verkhovna Rada Committees on one hand, and cooperation of the Verkhovna Rada with the executive and judicial branches as well as with the citizens, on the other hand;
drafting analytical documents and reports.
The key objectives of the System are:
ensuring administrative, legal, informational and analytical support for day to day operations of the Verkhovna Rada management and the MPs;
developing and implementing working and effective mechanisms for monitoring the enforcement of orders and resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada management and the MPs;
ensuring and maintaining immediate exchange of information among all state services and managing bodies;
improving current e-systems of the legislative branch; making it complete, responsive to the problems of a specific sector and manageable in the following areas:
creating a unified system of registration, hearing and passing draft laws;
improving quality, efficiency and immediacy of collective document drafting;
ensuring immediate forwarding of managerial orders, resolutions and decisions to respective departments and divisions;
ensuring faster and more efficient processing of people´s deputies´ inquiries;
ensuring the availability of exhaustive information to monitor the implementation of the MPs´ inquiries and instructions;
cutting the time and improving the quality of processing citizens´ appeals;
developing a system of accurate document filing and storing;
ensuring a reliable access to documents, protecting information from unauthorized access.
The Verkhovna Rada is currently using software applications such as Microsoft Office, Fine Reader; automatic translation programs (Pragma), spell-checkers and other similar tools to maintain due quality of document circulation. At the same time:
1. A broad computer network in line with the most recent requirements to information technologies and software has been installed and now functional at the Verkhovna Rada.
2. A unified computer network which can be accessed from 12 administrative buildings has been efficiently installed and used.
3. MPs, Secretariats´ and administration employees use e-mail, data bases, internet resources, etc.
4. 50 different types of automatic working places with restricted access similar to client-servicing systems based on Oracle Database software have been designed to guarantee reliability and centralization of data used in legislative processes.
5. Data bases have been integrated into Internet services. Authorized access is granted to legislative data base which can be accessed through Internet browsers both from the inside of the Verkhovna Rada and from an outside computer.
6. All automatic working places have been equipped with office software. A centralized data base of legislative templates has been created, which allows saving time when drafting new legislation.
7. Currently we are working at further integration of all existing data bases within the Verkhovna Rada into a unified e-system for the purpose of gradual streamlining (eliminating duplicated information), increasing data security, simplifying decision-making process linking the user to already exiting legislation and draft laws bases.
Owing to information and computer systems already in place, it is now possible to forward questions and comments to the Verkhovna Rada either via e-mail or the official Verkhovna Rada/Speaker web-sites and get the answer within a set forth period of time; to receive the text of a specific law or draft law, etc.
Currently the Verkhovna Rada official web-site is the only access point to the variety of parliamentary resources aimed at:
immediately and accurately informing the citizens about the Verkhovna Rada operations, most recent amendments to national legislation;
accessing informational resources of the Parliament which cannot be accessed in any other way;
effective informational support of the Verkhovna Rada initiatives;
publishing announcements, agendas and other urgent information;
collecting information about social movements and moods, etc.
The Ukrainian parliamentary portal offers a number of e-services to inform citizens, civic organizations, businesses about the major parliamentary policies; to ensure informational cooperation of people and Parliament. Moreover, there are additional services promoting public participation in open hearings, which increases transparency and builds up trust, provides exhaustive informational (educational) resource to learn about the Verkhovna Rada Rules, its members and structure, legislative processes, democratic developments. The service which enables informational exchange among parliaments and international organizations is of outmost importance.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, playing the role of a sole legislative and representative authority, boasts a tuned system of providing information to the public and getting relevant feedback to be able to take into account public opinion. Continuous exchange of information about the Parliament´s operations with the public and getting feedback in form of comments and suggestions binds the Parliament to carefully consider public opinion and work towards striking a mutually acceptable consensus.
Modern information systems do not only enable Parliaments to inform their voters about the activities of the legislative branch, but also to report to people and process their appeals to the Parliament in a proper manner.
Though the willingness of Ukrainians to cooperate with state authorities is growing up, it requires the availability of specific infrastructure: adequate development and availability of IT (in particular, the Internet) in the regions; affordable prices for telecommunication services and hardware for different groups of users, rapid development of human capital, raised awareness and adequate skills to use Internet resources. Satisfying these primary requirements, will promote further development of the Verkhovna Rada IT capabilities and better exposure to information in Ukrainian society.
Integrating information and computer technologies into the Parliament operations in Ukraine will result in establishing valuable information space and ensure continuous, direct and two-way communication with public, inviting the voters to contribute to legislative processes at the national level.
Developing and launching model web-sites of the Verkhovna Rada Committees and factions, integrating them into the unified official site of the Verkhovna Rada was an important step for the development of e-parliament in terms of shaping the Ukrainian society, appreciating public opinion and gradually involving each individual voter into developing national legislation.
The next stage of cooperation between the parliament and general public is providing consultative services to voters:
· Providing information (information services) to the public.
· Promoting public interest to information (getting information).
· Analyzing incoming comments from the public.
Said information exchange may be exercised in a traditional way (through printed media), and in an innovative way (through applying IT).
One way of exposing information to public is placing it on an official web-site. Informational services provided by parliamentary factions, committees, structural departments carry the following functions:
Representative. The Internet-resources of parliamentary factions, committees, structural departments create a unified integrated database of representative information about the Parliament´s operations.
Corporate. A unified structure and design of all related parliamentary web-sites allows to easily comprehend the site contents and to speed up search for information.
Informational. Internet users are informed about:
- Deputy factions, committees, the Verkhovna Rada structural departments;
- Ukraine´s political system;
- Clarifications and comments on a number of issues related to the National legislative process.
Communicative. All Internet users and web-site visitors are supplied with contact information and opportunities.
Advisory. The voters are provided with reference information to ensure feedback and contact with Parliament Public Communication Department staff.
One of the most widely spread tools of cooperation between state authorities and general public is Internet-surveys. Currently the Verkhovna Rada is capable to do a small-scale survey on the most urgent issues of social and political life through its web-site. Survey findings are deemed valid public opinion and are always considered in the decision-making process.
Another reliable and popular way of information dissemination is distributing informational CDs. Such CDs contain information about parliamentary activities, the Parliament´s structural departments, references. CDs are released in between parliamentary sessions and immediately before an upcoming session.
In the near future we plan to expand public outreach though developing and publishing e-bulletins, internet conferences, seminars and discussion rounds; increasing the number of informational kiosks.
Integration of parliamentary web-resources can be reached through creating:
unified software:
unified server;
unified information management system;
unified search system;
unified design and navigation rules;
unified data protection system.
Upon completing the abovementioned primary integration stage, we shall proceed to implementing the second and the third integration stages, which imply integration in terms of services and target audience satisfaction.
To reach these goals, the following issues should be effectively addressed:
defining priority development areas for e-parliament for the period of 2007—2012;
disclosing information about the Parliament´s activities, to carry out surveys, to encourage forum communication, to ensure effective operation of e-reception, to implement on-line services like Internet conferences, etc.;
building capacity for informational exchange between the web-sites of the Parliament departments and the Verkhovna Rada official web-site;
ensuring simultaneous publishing of materials in the Ukrainian and in the English languages;
developing legislation for governing the development and usage of e-parliament system.
We are convinced that the implementation of information and computer technologies is a move towards better effectiveness and transparency of legislative process administration and strengthening democracy. Jointly with our international partners, in particular with the newly created Global Center for ICT in Parliaments, we will effectively address our challenges.
Valentyn ZAICHUK, the Secretary General of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine