The Syndicat Intercommunal de Gestion Informatique (SIGI), Luxembourg's intermunicipal union for ICT management, has announced the development of a new programming language allowing municipalities to face the challenges of digitalisation and administrative simplification.
Developed by SIGI union experts, the new "Made in Luxembourg" SIGINOVA tool will offer professionals in the municipal world a means of configuring the computer applications they use daily to cover their missions. The disruptive idea behind this innovation is the fact that the user easily becomes a player in the design together with the SIGI, without having to resort to complex IT development.
Gescom (municipal management) is the IT tool used by Luxembourg's101 municipalities. The 46 modules developed for the service of more than 500,000 citizens, as well as the instruments for steering political decision-makers, function thanks to Gescom. The IT tool has been developed in several versions over 38 years, managed and permanently adapted to the requirements of the professions of the municipal sector by SIGI experts.
The technological advances of recent years, the challenges of digitalisation, data protection rules (GDPR), the growing demands in terms of IT security measures and the habits of users influenced by the use of social networks on the most modern platforms have pushed SIGI to invest in the creation of new technology: a disruptive solution developed with open tools (open source). The advantages of open solutions include the accessibility and the reduction of the dependence of unpredictable pricing policies of large software publishers. In case of problems, the contribution of solutions to the open community improves stability for all players. Although this does not reduce the costs of the solutions, it generally replaces the investment in licenses by an investment in human resources.
After three years of development, SIGI teams are now ready to replace existing technology with SIGINOVA module by module. The launch of this unique tool will be done in stages and in close collaboration with the sector, ie civil servants and municipal employees. SIGI Director Carlo Gambucci commented: “They are the professionals and their daily activities, which constitute our benchmark. We have developed a new approach and somehow rethought IT in its foundations". For the introduction of the new system, SIGI relies on the widest information and training. Mr Gambucci continued: "It is not a question of imposing a solution, but of switching together to a new innovative technology, efficient and easy to use".
In the SIGINOVA world, civil servants and municipal employees are an integral part of the process of creating their working tool and defining their business processes. Carlo Gambucci explained: "Until now, writing has been code programming done by the IT department. In the future, the civil servant becomes an actor in the process of designing his business solutions, and it is the Business Competence Centers of SIGI and no longer IT that will support him and will program his activities with our new language".
Another strong point is the acceleration of the availability of solutions. In addition, the creation of access and the management of user groups will be done directly in the municipalities. The general time savings generated by the implementation of SIGINOVA thus aims to allow SIGI to support its customers more and more closely in the customisation of the solutions offered and puts them in a position to be able to attack the rewriting of the 46 existing modules and add many more.
In terms of simplicity, the use of SIGINOVA has been made easy, user-friendly and collaborative. The new assistant function "Wizard digital" supports and guides the user through a didactic approach through each stage of an activity carried out. The display of the screens is characterised by its clarity and presents only the information essential to the tailor-made treatment. "This approach allows the user to focus on the essentials," said the SIGI Director. Moreover, SIGINOVA aims to simplify the interaction of activities between the different municipal actors and facilitate the exchange of documents.
In the near future, the municipalities will be able to use SIGINOVA to directly address the growing mobility needs of citizens. Applications on tablets and smartphones are currently in the development phase. SIGINOVA is the basis of these mobile solutions for citizens which could become an actor in municipal life.
