The “once-only” principle is one of the flagship elements of the Digital Decade Agenda

By Barry Lowry, Chief Information Officer, Government of Ireland.

This "My Take" was written for Data-fueled government, Trend #5 in the Government Trends 2022 report.

View the Government Trends 2022 report here >

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Optimizing the use of data remains a significant opportunity as well as a challenge for governments, as cultural obstacles remain. We have a history of government bodies being separate legal entities with their own specific data holdings collated for specific purposes, usually set out in legislation. Moreover, they also tend to have cultivated their own methods for how they do things and even the technologies they use.

The concept of digital government, of course, is in direct contrast to this, involving a single access portal, intuitive ways of presenting information or services, and most importantly, the “once only” principle (OOP), in which data is collected from individuals just once and then used many times.

OOP is one of the flagship elements of the European Union’s Digital Decade Agenda. The EU membership understands that its implementation will improve services, reduce costs, improve data protection, and allow public administrations in one member state to use information provided in another.

But this won’t be easy. In addition to cultural challenges, we have legacy systems, legislative barriers and a small but highly vociferous group who oppose increased data-sharing of any kind. So how do we move forward? The solution is to continue the big conceptual discussion, but simultaneously push to resolve people’s frustrations with “the system” by understanding their journeys and the pain they’ve experienced—and committing to improvements.

The challenge may be great, but the rewards are compelling, and we must seize the opportunity.

(Image Credit: Unsplash)