Presentation by Mihkel Lauk at seminar 1 held on 4 March 2021, which addresses life-events in public service delivery: what and how? This event takes place in the framework of a series of webinars organised by the SIGMA Programme, a joint initiative of the OECD and EU, principally financed by the EU, on the role of life events in end-to-end public service delivery.

1. © OECD
Life-events in public service
delivery: what & how?
Terminology and purpose
Mihkel Lauk, Digital Transformation Expert, Estonia
Virtual event, 4 March 2021

2. Why life events?
• Citizens of 2020 have different needs and expectations from the citizens of 2000. The
next generation will have different expectations based on everyday use of state-of-the-
art technology.
• The citizens of today also neither have the need nor any desire to be aware of complex
administrational layers of the government. While the government can be a complex
web of processes and often unavoidable bureaucracy, citizen experience needs to
become a number one focus to enable the best environment to live in - digital or
otherwise. If a citizen thrives, so does the government.
• To address those issues, a new way of thinking is required in how government designs,
builds, integrates and deploys services and uses data.
Kristo Vaher, Government CTO, Estonia

3. Setting the scene: life and business events
Citizen
• Having a baby
• Attending hospital
• Arranging for childcare
• Studying
• Using a public library
• Looking for a job
• Starting a job
• Paying income taxes and social
contributions
• Becoming unemployed
• Marrying
• Buying, building, renting or
renovating a property
Business
• Starting and registering a business
• Applying for licenses and permits
• Building, buying, renting or
renovating a property
• Hiring an employee
• Running a business
• Paying tax and social security
contributions
• Trading across borders
• Closing a business (including
insolvency proceedings)

4. Purposes of the life event service
• Better cooperation between government and citizens (and businesses).
 Information architecture (New Zealand)
 Service quality and society engagement (Portugal)
 Citizen-focused service design (France)
 “One Government” vs “One-Stop-Shop” (Flanders)
• Technical excellence and reliability of data
 Statistical information (Canada)
• Multinational interoperability of public services
 CPSV-AP (EU)
 Single Digital Gateway (EU)
• Data event driven public service delivery
 An information system that automatically detects a life event, selects appropriate
component services and delivers the public services via different web applications
(automatically and invisibly). (Estonia)

5. Terminology: structure of public services
Public
service
General
public service
Direct public
service
Proactive
service
Invisible
service
Life event
service
Core service
Convenience
service
Exceptional
service
Internal
service

6. Terminology: public services
• General public service – public service, which is provided by the Public Sector or
authorised party to the society without direct request and identification of the
beneficiary.
For example: street lighting, public transportation.
• Direct public service – public service, which is provided by the Public Sector or
authorised party to one person or business via direct service contact in purpose
of gaining benefits or perform an obligation.
For example: renewing a passport, declaring taxes.
• Internal public service - public service, which is provided by Public Sector to
another Public Sector Authority.
For example: shared services (finance or IT), procurement service.

7. Terminology: events
• Life event – a significant change in the state of affairs in a citizen’s life where a
public service may be required.
For example: getting a baby, becoming a crime victim, going to school, building
a house.
• Business event - a significant change in the state of affairs in the lifecycle of a
business that fulfils one or more needs or (legal) obligations of that business at
this specific point in time. A business event requires a set of public services to
be delivered and consumed in order for the associated business need(s) or
obligation(s) to be fulfilled.
For example: starting a business, becoming multinational business, closing a
business.
• Life or business event is reflected by one or more data events.
• Data event - is the reflection of a life event in the governmental registries
and/or information systems.
For example: registration of pregnancy, registration of birth, registration of
diploma, registration of working, registration of becoming unemployed,
registration of the change of residence, registration of marriage, change in the
health data, and registration of death.

8. Terminology: direct public services
• Proactive service – the direct public services provided by an authority on its own
initiative in accordance with the presumed will of persons and based on the data in
the databases belonging to the state information system (driven by Once-Only-
Principle, not directly by life event). Proactive services are provided automatically or
with the consent of a person.
For example: renewing an ID card, technical assessment of a vehicle.
• Invisible service – proactive service that is provided by Government without
involvement of the requestor.
For example: cancelling a business board member status in case of death.
• Life event service - is a public service provided in collaboration between several
governmental institutions enabling a citizen to fulfil her or his responsibilities and
exercise her or his rights that have emerged on the basis of some life event of the
citizen. A life event service merges several direct public services
(hereinafter component service) related to the same life event into a single service
for the user.
For example: getting a child, building a house, getting retired.

9. Terminology: component services
• Core public service – mandatory component service that is always a part of a given
life event service.
For example: all parents of a new-born child get social benefits.
• Convenience service – voluntary core public service that is part of a given life
event service and delivered only on the request of the service client.
For example: some future parents can calculate their benefits using an e-service.
• Exceptional service – component service that is part of the given life event service
but concerns a small part of the service clients. Exceptional service requires a
separate process flow and usually changes the whole scope of the life event
services.
For example: some parents of a disabled new-born child get additional social
benefits.

10. Hierarchy of life events: human goals driven concept
Goal Intention Life event
Data
event
Life event
service
Get
descendants
Get a child Child birth
Pregnancy
registration
Getting a
child
Child
registration
EVENDRISER methodology that combines citizen goals and intentions with
the Government capabilities.

11. Hierarchy of life events: development
driven concept
Life cycle
Life cycle
phase
Life event
Life event
phase
Human life
cycle
Learning
Family life
Getting a
child
Planning
Pregnancy
Birth of a
child
Working
Independent
phases
Getting
disability
Becoming a
crime victim

12. Thank you!
Mihkel Lauk
mihkel@lauk.ee

13. © OECD
Life-events in public service
delivery: what & how?
Evolution of the public service delivery
and performance assessment
Mihkel Lauk, Digital Transformation Expert, Estonia
4 March 2021

14. © OECD
How we will achieve the results?
New Zealand Government, August 2017, https://www.dia.govt.nz/vwluResources/Reult-10-
Action-Plan-August-2017/$file/BPS-Result-10-Action-Plan-Aug-2017.pdf

15. © OECD
Main challenges in life event service
development
Lack of public service
management maturity
• Political will and support
• Coordination
• Financing model
• Legal framework
• Digital skills
• International cooperation

16. © OECD
Main challenges in life event service
development
Lack of core ICT capabilities
• Digital databases, interoperability,
secure data exchange
• Core e-services (population registry,
business registry, etc.)
• Secure digital identity and digital
signature
• Information security
• Telecommunications and digital
infrastructure

17. © OECD
Service Management Maturity Model
1. Functional
• Functional
behaviour
according to the
regulations.
• No
understanding of
the services.
• No process
descriptions.
2. Service list
• List of services
exists.
• No standard
approach for
describing the
services.
• Need for
change exists.
3. Described
services
• Service info is
standardised.
• Services are
described.
• Services have
owner.
• Roles and
responsibilities
are defined for
Service
Management.
• No information
system for
Service
Management.
4. Measured
services
• Some KPIs are
defined.
• KPIs are
monitored and
the data is
analyzed.
• Information
system for
Service
Management
exists.
5. Optimised
services
• Services are
managed in
portfolio.
• Continuous
improvement.
• Rich set of KPIs.
• Service strategy
is linked to
state level
strategy
planning.

18. Thank you!
Mihkel Lauk
mihkel@lauk.ee