The Senate Chancellery HH’s DigitalFirst programme

The DigitalFirst programme of the Department for IT and Digitalisation in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg digitalises administrative services provided for the city's citizens and businesses. It constitutes a significant contribution to the implementation of the Online Access Act (OZG) in Hamburg.

The DigitalFirst programme, which is hosted centrally at the Senate Chancellery, focusses on the digital services users who benefit from the optimised administrative processes. Through the programme’s implementation the administration is able to

• Communicate with citizens digitally
• Act proactively
• Automate processes and
• Reduce data input volume

The programme provides advice and supports the authorities with the creation of digital services linked to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg’s service portal. This includes a suitable operating infrastructure. In addition to digital services, DigitalFirst also develops digitalisation methods and processes, plus it defines and monitors implementation as well as control standards. The programme also coordinates the provision of the services through the modular central IT platform, including features such as user accounts and e-payments.

DigitalFirst furthermore incorporates a multi-agency project organisation, implementing the digitalisation projects in Hamburg in the context of the Online Access Act and safeguarding their operation. At the same time, the programme helps the agencies to provide access to their own digital services and to access the digital services provided by other federal states. This is accomplished using agile programme organisation and product development methods, which creates the organisational conditions needed for effective, multi-agency digitalisation.

PD has been supporting the programme, for example, with the creation and management of a systematic and strategic programme monitoring process, the project organisation’s ongoing development, the agencies’ digitalisation and, within the context of an interim mandate, with a team of consultants since March 2020.

• Consulting on the set-up and expansion of the programme’s management, on improving its strategic and process-related aspects (e.g. further improving the programme’s organisational structure, setting up and expanding the programme's monitoring and reporting system)
• Consulting on the development of a systematic and strategic data management programme, the optimisation of the monitoring system and the usage-date-based improvement of the digital services
• Consulting on designing and establishingof the organisation and project structures for developing stand-alone digital services and linking them to the services provided by other federal states
• Consulting on the set-up of more effective personnel and administrative structures to ensure the digital services’ successful operation
• Consulting on the further development of a technical operating concept
• Supporting the set up and establishment of a Hamburg-wide service portfolio management system in the context of an interim management mandate

“One of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg's key objectives is to digitalise the administrative services provided for its citizens and companies. For this we not only depend on our own IT experts, but also on strong partners. I am extremely pleased that PD is such a partner at our side, helping us with our digital administration solutions. As in-house consultants, PD's professionals bring both a solid understanding of administrative processes as well as an 'outsider' perspective to the table. These qualitites in particular make our collaboration extremely effective and valuable.”

Christian Pfromm, Chief Digital Officer of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg