United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

The judicial administration is traditionally a conservative administration, high-handed and always late compared to other administrations and organizations. The laws the magistrates must apply are mostly obsolete and unsuited. The goods and the services they have at there disposal are widely insufficient compared to the always growing needs.In this objective situation of difficulty in which the magistrates and judicial operators have to do their delicate mission, I thought it was my duty – as the chief magistrate of such a delicate judicial office like the Public Prosecutor’s office – to maximize the effort in trying to minimize the lacks described above and to make the action of the office more tranparent, efficient and effective.This intent of organizational modernization and cultural change had to reckon, on one side, with the few human and material resources which had to be optimized through a deep reorganization and the optimization of the working procedures, and, on the other side, with a culture which ever since considered “administering” justice the its central role; this culture had to be changed in one that considers the administration as a “service” having at the centre of his action the citizen whom to give certain, quick, forseeable and trasparent answers.To have any possibilities of success this idea had to find – and eventually found – the consense and the condivision of all magistrate collegues, the administrative staff and the judiciary police at the Pubblic Prosecutor’s Office (all together more or less one hundred people).Together with a consultancy company we have drawn up a project for the reorganization and optimization, which I presented to the assessment of the European Social Fund with the request of a grant, that we obtained.The instruments with which we were convinced to reach the aim of modernization, trasparency, effectivness and efficiency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Bolzano are: (1) the service charter to come closer to the citizens by giving information about us, by explaining our task’s and giving guarantees; (2) the Social Accountability Report as an instrument of internal and external transparency, of knowledge, strategy and accountability to our stakeholders; (3) the Quality Management Sistem with which we optimized the working procedures and which has spread in the office the culture of quality of the services and the continous improvement of the organization inside the office; (4) the IT System, as an instrument which consists in a new website www.procura.bz.it and in several IT applications concerning basically cost and management control systems.The results we reached after a two years work – we gave evidence of them in a recent conference - are certainly remarkable. We reached more administative effiectivness in the action of the Pubblic Prosecutor’s Office, we reached more efficency by reducing over 50% the expences for investigations by mantaining their quality, we reached a much better team spirit between all the members of staff and we received many certifications of esteem by simple citizens, local and national authorities, as well as by authorities of the European Union. They all encouraged us to continue on our way. Every single result we reached is for us sufficient to continue on the way we started to walk on two year’s ago to try to give to the citizens asking for it an always better “justice service”.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bolzano is the first judicial authority which has undertaken such a thorough pilot project for the reorganization and improvement of the office, achieving the aims described below. For this reason it was even more difficult to reach the set goals as there were no benchmarks or good practices in the justice sector to follow.The first one is the improvement of the external communication with citizens, lawyers and police forces through the new web site and the service charter which is, as said before, the first in Italy. They are intended to be useful instruments of knowledge, civic education and orientation for the citizens. The service charter is, moreover, a guarantee charter for the stakeholders and especially the citizens as the Office binds itself to the service delivery conditions written in the brochure, otherwise the stakeholders can complain for their treatment.The web site, in addition, is a channel for the development of even more e-justice services such as the already existing possibility to contact the Office by e-mail as well as requiring information or certificates electronically. In the near future it will be possible for lawyers to see the files of their clients online and to download copies of them. For the police forces it will be possible to send the communications of committed crimes and all other investigation notes by e-mail through a certified system. The second achievement is the social and economic accountability report, in a situation where even the Ministry of Justice does not really control its costs and expenses. The reconstruction of costs and incomes was very difficult as data had to be collected from a large number of different other public administrations from which the Public Prosecutor’s Office outsources a wide range of support activities. Eventually an income statement has been built up with surprising data, which in their turn have been the basis for improvements that led to more cost cuttings. By now a second edition of the social and economic accountability report has been published including a comparison between the years 2004 and 2005.The major economic achievement is a huge cost reduction in only 2 years time. The judicial costs have been shortened by € 1,028,977.11, i.e. 52.34% thanks to structural interventions and a more responsive use of the financial resources which have not limited the investigation activity. Moreover a cost controlling software application has been elaborated which enables to monitor exactly the costs of every single proceeding.The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bolzano is also the first judicial office which has undertaken a ISO quality certification in order to guarantee greater transparency both internally and externally, as well as a better organisational development with the aim to deliver the best possible justice service to whoever has to do with the office. From this point of view also the investigation staff has been reorganised in order to shorten investigation time and the duration of minor proceedings.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The Senior Public Prosecutor, Cuno Tarfusser, has been thinking about the necessity of a radical intervention in the organization for its improvement since he was nominated chief of the office in July 2001.The project took shape in the summer 2004 and was submitted to the European Social Fund panel of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano for a grant on August 31st 2004. It was valued the best submitted project and received a 100% grant.The project started in fall 2004.The first achievements were the service charter and the new website which was publicly presented to the citizens on June 10th 2005. During the summer the service charter was distributed all over the province thanks to the collaboration with the union of the municipalities. In the meantime quantitative data for the first social economic and accountability report were gathered from the information system of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and from other public administrations. The data gathering and analysis, the determination of indicators, the evaluation of the data and the comment of the statistic results took several months and the 1st edition of the social and economic accountability report with information about 2004 was published and distributed at the end of 2005. Last month the social accountability report regarding 2005 was published and distributed.Within the cost analysis for the accountability report a software application for the cost control was worked out at the beginning of 2005. Since the beginning of 2005 the Office is working on the quality management system.In fall 2005 the first changes and standardizations were introduced in the organization (standardization of the requests which can also be downloaded from the website, instructions to the staff about how to handle electronic requests of certificates or copies, standardization in file keeping of the criminal proceedings, etc…).In spring 2006 specific surveys of complaints and grievances were introduced in order to monitor customer satisfaction. In the same period the secretariats of the eight junior Public Prosecutors were thoroughly reorganized by assigning four members of the judicial police to every Public Prosecutor who have to do all the requested investigation as well as the administrative duties.At present all forms for internal and external use are being standardized in order to deliver a corporate image of the office as a whole with a shared law enforcement policy and a shared way of working.In September 2006 also an agreement with the mobile phone company Vodafone was subscribed by the Senior Public Prosecutor, which allows members of the judicial police on duty in the District as well as the members of staff of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to call each other for free.On 14th - 15th December 2006 a conference was held in Bolzano to disseminate and give evidence of the results of the project. The conference included a discussion with the representatives of the Justice Ministry, of the Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura (the self-governed constitutional body of judiciary) and of the European Commission on the transferability of the project throughout Italian justice sector.Although the conclusion of the pilot project is planned for April 30th 2007 with the ISO certification of the quality management system, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is already thinking of new improvements of both the internal and external communication, the cost controlling, the delivery of services and the accountability from a viewpoint of efficiency, transparency and responsiveness.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The pilot project is the response of the Office to the necessity perceived by the Public Prosecutors, the administrative staff and the judicial police to work in a more modern environment. Indeed, in Italy and thus also in Bolzano, justice administration was characterized by excessive bureaucracy, an overwhelming number of redundant and anachronistic working steps, a complete lack of communication with almost all stakeholders and insufficient use of IT. Moreover there was no such thing as a cost control system nor management control.In addition the annual budget for the purchase of stationery was already insufficient and even more reduced. So was the budget for the IT maintenance which in January 2006 was shortened by the Ministry of Justice by 85% of the previous year. With the budget it would have been absolutely impossible to fill the ordinary work of a Public Prosecutor’s Office.The consequence was very fragmented work flows, little collaboration amongst the different sectors within the Public Prosecutor’s office resulting in and underlying chronic frustration of the staff. This frustration was linked to the idea that the situation would never improve and the certainty that every change would mean worsen the existing situation. Therefore there was also a certain scepticism to every sort of change. However, everyone was aware of the fact that things could not continue that way. There was the need of a global project in order to introduce radical changes concerning the whole Public Prosecutor’s Office and a leading person was needed to set the tone for a real change. The Senior Public Prosecutor was this sort of person and managed it to put together representatives of every sector of the office, of the junior Public Prosecutors, of the judicial police as well as a consultancy firm in order to work out together the pilot project.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The main aim was to transform the Public Prosecutor’s Office in a well working office which has in its priorities the service for the citizens and the justice, i.e. to deliver a better justice-service to the stakeholders, on one hand, and to give these services with lower costs on the other.In order to recover the background situation, several purposes were prioritized. The first one was to improve the image of the Public Prosecutor’s Office towards the outside and especially towards the citizens, lawyers, police forces, the Justice Ministry, the “Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura”. Stakeholders should have a more modern image of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The citizens should perceive it as an Office which is in their reach and whose task it is to protect their interests more then only to chase the “baddies”. Towards lawyers and police forces the image should be of a relatively easy accessible office which pays attention also to the needs of its principal stakeholders. Towards the Justice ministry and the Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura the image should be of a well working and absolute transparent office with high performances.The second one was the promotion of e-justice (through the web site), the electronic delivery of justice service such as the request of certificates and copies and access to e-files. On the website citizens can read useful information about the institution, its organization and its tasks. They can also download from the website download all sort of requests and the information about how to get certificates and/or copies. Lawyers and police forces have also a reserved area on the website which is used to exchange reserved information between them and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The third one was to tighten the relationship and improve communication with other public administrations so as to know more about the respective tasks and competences and to look for partners for common projects. Indeed working together in common projects represents an advantage for all involved institutions as synergies are exploited.The fourth one was to improve the IT system (hardware and software) and to create an electronic document management system in order to monitor the state of art of the proceeding. The IT system of the Public Prosecutor’s Office was very obsolete and needed to be replaced. The electronic document management system allows to monitor the state of the art of every criminal proceeding which enables the staff of the front office to give always updated information to the customers. Moreover this allows also a monitoring of the duration of a proceeding.The fifth one was the cost analysis in order to spot out inefficiencies and to cut down costs. This is a forced purposes as the assigned budget gets less from year to year. Though there is the awareness that cuttings can be done without interfere with the quality of investigations.The sixth one was to improve work flows and to reach a certified ISO system. This is of course a very ambitious purpose but it is very important because all the preparing work leads to a deeper knowledge of all work processes as well of the criticalities by the whole staff. Moreover, this allows to standardize procedures within the organisation.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The achievement of all these purposes was not easy and the definition of precise strategies was required. First of all it was vital to prepare peoples minds within the organization to the change and wipe away the scepticism. Therefore a leading committee for the implementation of the pilot project was instituted divided into 4 working groups. Each group works on a different topic: one group is responsible for internal and external communication. A second group works on the improvement of the information flow within the organisation, a third group works on the quality management system and a fourth group works on the cost control and editing of the social accountancy report. The improvement of internal communication was achieved by the involvement of representatives of every sector in the decision-making process and by regular up-date meetings of the whole staffExternal communication was improved by facilitating information access by citizens and other stakeholders and promoting the e-contact with the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The improvement of communication with other public administrations was based on regular contact and a continuous information flow between the Office and the other public administration looking for greater transparency.As a result of these more frequent contacts the idea of exploiting synergies became more concrete and some common projects in partnership were started.In fact, thanks to agreements with the Region Trentino-Alto Adige and with the Union of the municipalities of South Tyrol the IT system has been upgraded in the Public Prosecutor’s office which is now working together with the Free University of Bolzano in order to create an electronic document management system to promote e-justice.The cost cutting was achieved by cost analysis, monitoring of expenses and by a more responsible use of financial resources. The findings were reported in the social and economic accountability report where indicators were defined and a new scheme for the calculation of costs and revenues of a Public Prosecutor’s Office was elaborated.Internal work processes were improved writing them down in flow charts and analysing their efficiency level. Eventually, changes were introduced, and new processes tested. Most procedures and outputs were standardized and customer satisfaction as well as productivity are measured.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
After more than two years from the beginning of the pilot project many things have changed. In the first place the minds of the staff of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bolzano have changed: the delivery of the best justice-service to the stakeholders is now the priority number 1. “Quality” and “performance” as well as “customer satisfaction” have become important concepts also in every day job. In addition there is a much more cohesive and collaborative environment within the organisation in which every single member of staff, regardless of his/her function within the organization, feel as an important part of a whole. This feeling has led also to a more pro-active approach of the staff toward their job.As a result members of staff offered all their skills beyond what is normally requested and many hidden abilities, and thus resources, were discovered and often better employed in the organisation.The image of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has improved even beyond every expectation. The achievements have become good practices in the justice sector and the interest on the pilot project has even more increased after the conference in December 2006. Contacts and relationships with other public offices offices have become tighter and reference persons have been spotted out in the Public Prosecutor Office who keep regular contact with them.The distance between the citizen, and especially the young ones, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office has shortened. The new website represents not only a source of information but also a valid contact channel for urgent communication and fast responses, as almost all ingoing enquiry requests are answered within 24 hours. This communication channel is very welcomed also by the citizens, because it is easy, direct and fast. Both, the website and the service charter improve transparency and responsiveness in the relationship with the citizens. The internal organisation has been restructured and many inefficiencies deleted. So for instance almost all minor criminal proceedings are filled in eight weeks time so to allow the junior Public Prosecutor to concentrate on the major cases. Moreover all the internal and external documents have been standardized both in their form and layout so that one can recognized them immediately as a document of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and finds the needed reference information at the first glance. The standardization of the documents saves much time when they have to be translated.The more responsive use of financial resources and the structural intervention on the wire-tappings have led to the astonishing saving of € 1,028,977.11 in two years time from December 31, 2003 before the starting of the pilot project, to December 31, 2005, with an other reduction of 36% i. e. € 338,106.52 up to November 30, 2006. It must be pointed out, though, that this remarkable cost reductions in no way affected the quality and number of the investigations, or the number of wire-tappings. In addition, the agreement with Vodafone allowed not only to have all the work calls by the judicial police for free with less expenses by the police men, but also to reduce the phone costs of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and of all those administrations (State Police, Carabinieri, Financial Police and all the other police forces) whose staff signed the same agreement. The data collecting for the social and economic accountability report has encouraged several members of staff to monitor statistically their own work in order to measure it and compare performances of different years.Last but not least, all personal computers have been replaced with more modern ones.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The pilot project is the start up of a virtuous spiral of continuous improvement of the services delivered to the stakeholders. Therefore this improvement process cannot be stopped. Moreover it is interesting to consider that the investment was of € 203,132.00 (the grant by the European Social Fund) for the whole pilot project which lasts from fall 2004 up to now, whereas the savings by the Treasury the Public Prosecutor’s Office produced were over one million Euro in the same period.If one thinks that in Italy there are exactly 165 other Public Prosecutor’s Offices and at least 120 of them can be compared with the one in Bolzano for their territory competence and number of Public Prosecutors, one could calculate how much money could be saved if all of them followed the benchmark of Bolzano.Indeed as emerged also at the discussion at the conference in Bolzano, the model elaborated with the pilot project can easily be transferred to many other Public Prosecutor’s Offices. What should in fact be transferred are not the achievements of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bolzano but the methodology which can be summed up in ??? steps. The first is the analysis of the needs, costs and resources of the office from the economic point of view and of the stakeholders, their expectations and the internal work flows from the quality and efficiency performing point of view. The second step is to prioritize the purposes and to look for benchmark and concrete solutions, the third step is to implement the solutions and the forth step is to monitor the results.Every judicial office could use this methodology and apply it also without pursuing the same aims as the office in Bolzano did, and achieve nonetheless great results.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The first great lesson is that even when the situation seems to be dramatically bad, there is still something that can be done to improve it. Secondly it is important to point out that in order to achieve some certain results it is vital that the whole office works together. No change is done without a collaborative staff. The best revolutions are bottom-up ones. Changes can hardly be imposed from the top.Another very important lesson is that there are many other public administrations which could be interested in a collaboration exploiting synergies and this would have advantages for all. In addition, partner projects widens often the horizons and knowledge of all partners involved and have also the advantage to be for all more economic.A very obvious lesson, which was not that obvious before, is that one must know its office before thinking of changing it. Indeed, in the judicial offices only few activities are monitored and data are often not analysed and evaluated.


Institution Name:		Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bolzano
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Cuno Jakob Tarfusser
Title:		Senior Public Prosecutor
Telephone/ Fax:		+39 3292607961
Institution's / Project's Website:		+39 0471 260296
E-mail:		cuno.tarfusser@giustizia.it
Address:		Procura della RepubblicaPiazza Tribunale, 1
Postal Code:		39100
City:		Bolzano
State/Province:		Bolzano
Country:		Italy

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information