United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

In October 2006, the Ministry of Economy took part in the project entitled „Implementation of the CAF Model in Selected Ministries and Central Government Agencies”, which was also joined by 19 selected ministries and central authorities. The purpose of this project was to improve the effectiveness of the Polish public administration.
Self-assessment carried out under the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) made it possible to define areas requiring improvement and streamlining at the Ministry of Economy. The main problems diagnosed in the functioning of the authority were identified as follows:

1. No definition of key objectives, results and deliverables of the activities of the Ministry of Economy and relevant metrics, including those concerning the quality of services and products. Not all the organisational units defined their objectives, and where they were defined, a large majority of them were immeasurable.

2. No definition of indicators for measuring relations with customers/citizens, except 2 departments that have a quality management system in place in compliance with the ISO 9001 Standard.

3. No uniform process approach and process management, except 4 departments (2 departments have implemented a quality management system in compliance with the ISO 9001:2000 Standard, while the other 2 have used procedures for the implementation of structural funds).
4. No full knowledge of the process approach, process owner role, and the meaning of the term “process” among the employees of the Ministry of Economy.
5. No approach adopted for the establishment of process progress indicators and the setting of citizen/customer-oriented performance objectives, except 2 departments that have a quality management system in place in compliance with the ISO 9001:2000 Standard.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The implementation of process management provided a basis for measuring the performance of different processes, which improved the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the entire structure of the Ministry of Economy. The focus placed throughout the process on employees, who, as internal customers, participate, by means of electronic modelling tools, in process identification and development, is not only innovative, but it is also a solution that provides an incentive for individuals and teams to be committed to the creation of a new management architecture. The management processes have strengthened the focus on the external customer, which, in the case of the Ministry of Economy, mainly means the focus on entrepreneurs, which has improved the awareness of their needs and the quality of their service by the Ministry’s staff. Hence the adoption of the process approach at the Ministry influences the entire national economy. The project also involved the implementation of a quality management system (according to the ISO 9001 standard) and a corruption prevention system (Polish standard) at all units of the authority. It was continued from June 2007 to December 2008 and ended with external certification of the Ministry’s management system in 2009, confirming its conformity with the above systems. Since April 2009, i.e. from the entry of the document into force, there has been a lot going on in terms of optimisation of process architecture and structure. Process owners aggregate highly fragmentary processes into framework processes on their own initiative. Work on the approval of the concept of the process architecture change is also nearly completed.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Under the Common Assessment Framework, organisation assessment is carried out by a self-assessment team made up of employees of the organisation. This was also the case with the Ministry of the Economy – the self-assessment team was appointed by the Director General. The trained team prepared a self-assessment, identifying the Ministry’s strengths and areas that require improvement. 35 improvement areas were identified, out of which the management of the Ministry selected priority areas. On this basis it was decided e.g. to implement an improvement project for the implementation of process monitoring and optimisation mechanisms at the Ministry of Economy. In consequence of that decision, the Director General of the Ministry appointed project teams for the implementation of the different projects. The project team in charge of the development and implementation of process monitoring and optimisation mechanisms was comprised of employees of the Ministry of Economy. The project was carried out between June and November 2007. Some activities under the project were also performed by other employees of the Ministry, other than members of the project team, as well as an external consulting firm TZ-Consultans. The execution of the project led to preparing a process approach methodology and pilot implementation involving the description of three processes identified at the Ministry. The effects of the above project were implemented on a broader scale under another improvement project, which had also an effect of the Ministry’s self-assessment carried out in 2007 and 2008.

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 process approach was implemented at the Ministry under projects executed in line with a process approach methodology adopted by the authority. The common components of all those projects were the training of employee and management staff, external consulting and ongoing substantive support to the unit coordinating the implementation of the approach throughout the Authority. Owing to the size of the organisation, with its 27 organisational units and about 800 employees, departmental coordinators for the management system were appointed. In addition to their basic responsibilities, those persons also carry out activities related to the maintenance of the management system, including process management, within the organisational unit where they are employed. In order to ensure that the above tasks can be performed in a diligent and competent manner, appropriate training was provided to the employees. In addition, they participate in cyclic training sessions and information meetings. Moreover, in order to assess the implementation of the approach in specific areas, internal audits are carried out in accordance with the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard, planned under the annual internal audit programme.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
In 2007, in the first stage of implementation of the process approach at the Ministry, the Process Approach Methodology was developed – a basic document containing recommendations for defining the processes in place at the Ministry of Economy and detailed instructions for their description, implementation and monitoring. It was a proprietary document developed the Ministry’s employees with support from an external consultant. In order to ensure efficient implementation of the assumptions of the methodology, its development was modelled only on process management theories functioning in the world. The document took into account the nature of the functioning of public administration and its specific organisational culture. Based on that document, three processes were described on a pilot basis. Next the management of the Ministry decided to identify and describe the processes executed at the Ministry of Economy under the quality management system implementation project mentioned above. Despite the fact that the quality management system implementation project consisted of two annual stages, all the processes in place at the Ministry of Economy were described as early as 2008. Besides, also in 2008, a decision was taken to undertake another project to optimise the process approach at the authority. The project was carried out in 2009 and it ended in December of this year. The participation in the project was aimed to develop a concept for improving the process management approach already functioning at the Ministry, mainly with regard to more effective generation of management information from the system. Work is currently in process on the approval of a final optimisation concept for the approach.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The reasons of all problems faced in implementing the process approach were: lack of awareness, knowledge, and hence understanding of the expediency of process management implementation, the role of process owners and fear of change, including loss of influence or excessive responsibility. This resulted e.g. in the following problems: a. a large number of processes defined – nearly 230, b. different degrees of detail of the processes defined, from very general, framework processes to fragmentary ones, c. dimensioning of processes, definition of process objectives, and their implementation indicators, d. difficulties in efficient and effective generation of management information at different organisation levels, in a system comprising 230 processes, e. no or insufficient cooperation from some employees. In order to overcome the above problems, the Director General and the Minister in charge of economy were involved directly, taking measures related to the implementation of the process approach. It is worth noting that without direct involvement of the senior management of the Ministry it would be very difficult to implement the project. The milestone that made it possible to increase the involvement of all employees of the Ministry in process approach activities was the decision to develop organisation regulations based on the processes identified at the Authority, providing for the role and tasks of the process owner. For the first time, a public administration authority in Poland operates on the basis of a document developed this way.

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
The financial resources used in implementing the project were partly own resources, but a large part of the project was carried out under the central project “Improvement of Management Capabilities at Government Administration Authorities”. The funds were used to purchase training, external consultancy, process description applications. The technical resources consisted largely of the use of the process description tools Smart Portal and Smart Architect. One of the tools, Smart Portal, is used to publish documents accessible to all employees of the Ministry, and in the other one – Smart Architect – trained and authorised employees describe it. Human resources are the prime resource of the whole project – it was mainly owing to the commitment of the departmental coordinators for the management system (27 coordinators and 27 deputy coordinators), successive project teams, and the management of the Ministry that the project was completed successfully and the improvement of the process management approach is being continued at the Ministry of Economy.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Given the introduction of the process approach as a leading method of management at the Ministry and legal recognition of the fact by including relevant provisions in the organisation regulations of the Authority, the solution is sustainable. This can also be confirmed by the development and improvement plans concerning this approach, e.g. with regard to work on a new process architecture concept and the submission to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of an improvement project concerning the development of a coherent management system at the Ministry of Economy, to be implemented as part of the system project.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
What was of fundamental importance to the success of the whole project, including a necessary mentality shift affecting the approach of many employees (transition from passive to active attitudes) was the commitment of the management of the Ministry, including the personal support to the project by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Mr Waldemar Pawlak. Owing to highly positive results of the pilot programme for the optimisation of management processes at the Ministry of Economy, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, based on the experiences and successes of the project, intends to disseminate the approach to other state authorities, mainly at the central level. At present, there are more than 230 processes identified and described at the Ministry of Economy, together with their key objectives and metrics, including those relating to the quality of services and products. Their owners of the heads and deputy heads of the organisational units. Corruption risk analyses have been developed for all the processes. The Ministry adopted a uniform approach to involving citizens/customers in the development of quality standards for the services and information delivered to citizens/customers, as well as an approach to the introduction of innovative solutions to processes with the participation of the Ministry’s customers/citizens. A concept was also developed for a change of the process architecture to ensure more efficient flow of management information. The above effects of the process approach implementation was also confirmed by the results of the Ministry’s self-assessment procedure carried out in June 2009.


Institution Name:		The Ministry of Economy
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Anna Zolkowska
Title:		Director of the Office of Director General
Telephone/ Fax:		+48 22 6934095
Institution's / Project's Website:
E-mail:		anna.zolkowska@mg.gov.pl
Address:		Plac Trzech Krzyzy 3/5
Postal Code:		00-507
City:		Warsaw
State/Province:
Country:		Poland

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