OPEN SOURCE NEWSLETTER. This issue: About OSEPA Good practices Outputs The Consortium The OSEPA Survey Past and future events

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1 OPEN NEWSLETTER SOURCE This issue: About OSEPA Good practices Outputs The Consortium The OSEPA Survey Past and future events

2 osepa consortium KEDKE (Lead Partner) Greece Vysočina Region Czech Republic City of Schoten Belgium Strovolos Municipality Cyprus FUNDECYT- Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology in Extremadura, Spain LPS Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments. Latvia Bistrita City Hall, Romania MFG Baden-Württemberg Innovation Agency for ICT and Media, Germany Bistrita City Hall Romania SAMBRUK Swedish Association of Municipalities for joint development of e-services Sweden Emilia Romagna Region Italy The University of Sheffield, UK CTI DIOPHANTUS Computer Technology Institute & Press Greece

3 About OSEPA 001 THE INTERREG IVC PROGRAMME The INTERREG IVC Programme is part of the European Territorial Cooperation Objective of the Structural Fund policies for the period It aims, by means of interregional cooperation, to improve the effectiveness of regional development policies and contribute to economic modernisation and increased competitiveness. Further information on The OSEPA project aims at triggering a pan-european debate about those changes that should be initiated in the policy framework so as to enable the public sector to exploit the benefits from the use of Open Source software. Public administrations can play a unique role as a catalyst force in demonstrating the value of FOSS and in removing legal and organisational obstacles and inhibitors by acting as early adopters. The project promotes knowledge and fosters awareness on the main benefits and disadvantages, cost evidence and effectiveness resulting from FOSS adoption and use by the public administrations. OSEPA provides guidelines on how to proceed with adoption of FOSS, based on the experiences of peer organizations through interregional co-operation. OSEPA outreach The partners of the consortium have significantly contributed to the community of people and organizations interested in FOSS through the dissemination of the project's results, promotion of its events and establishment of alliances and social network groups. More specifically, in the past period the following were achieved: Strategic alliance with OSOR.eu to widen the dissemination potential. Presentation of the project and of its achievements in numerous events such as the Erisa Annual 2011 Conference and epractice workshops. Presentation through articles in the media. Development and setup in OSEPA events of a 'demo booth' to provide hands-on experience and examples of FOSS. Establishment of a common linkedin OSEPA-OSOR group. Web 2.0 presence in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. Dissemination of over brochures. OSEPA FACTSHEET Duration: Lead Partner: KEDKE (Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece). The OSEPA consortium reaches internally alone 1300 European local and regional public administrations. 1

4 FOSS Procurement Guidelines 002 A first version of the Good Practice Guide that OSEPA intends to publish has already been developed, in which 19 case studies on open source software usage by various organisations in different technical implementation fields were reviewed, analysed and evaluated according to predefined evaluation criteria, score thresholds and ranking schemes. In the guide 12 out of the 19 collected cases have been identified as good practices. Guidelines and recommendations that sum up the main conclusions and lessons learned arising from these cases are provided in three sections (management guidelines, technical guidelines and sustainability guidelines) covering the full cycle of a FOSS project. Good practices in FOSS Good practices highlighted and main lessons learned include: setting clear and measurable objectives, selecting technically mature FOSS solutions that fit specific organisations, choosing proper licensing models, preparing and involving the organisation's staff, estimating costs and risks, using open standards, taking into account source code modification and compatibility issues, keep evaluating and supporting FOSS solutions and reaching out to peers, central agencies and the open source community. This 1st interim version of the Good Practice Guide is foreseen to be updated with more evidence and case studies through further experience exchange within the OSEPA consortium and will finally be published in The OSEPA partners have developed a concise guide on FOSS procurement for European Public Administrations to be used by elected representatives and decision makers, procurement and IT managers and staff in addition to any existing national or EU guidelines and regulations. This project deliverable will soon become publicly available on Report on FOSS European and National Policies and Practices The consortium has developed a report on the current situation regarding FOSS national policies based on information collected from the partners' countries (UK, Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Belgium) in relation to FOSS procurement and use in Public Administrations. The document describes the situation of the national policies and is currently available only to the project partners. Following the development of a corresponding report that will examine policies on EU level, the reports will feed a Policy Recommendation Paper which will be publicly available on 2

5 The OSEPA survey 003 Purpose The OSEPA survey aims to assess the level of FOSS (Free and / or Open Source Software) usage within European Public Administrations. Research questions What is the current level of FOSS usage within European Public Administrations (EPAs)? What are the key factors affecting FOSS usage in EPAs? What are the advantages and disadvantages of FOSS usage? What are the socioorganisational and technical / technological factors affecting potential migration to FOSS? Are there any correlations, based on empirical evidence, between the level of FOSS adoption and specific criteria or categories? Spatial coverage The OSEPA survey covers 20 OSEPA consortium and neighbouring countries: Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, Ireland, Cyprus, Latvia, Romania, United Kingdom, Austria, France, and Netherlands. Data collection The OSEPA survey is going to use a purpose-built, web-based questionnaire to collect data on technical / technological and socio-organisational factors affecting the level of FOSS usage in European Public Administrations. Data analysis A combination of both qualitative and quantitative (descriptive and inferential statistics) will be used. Triangulation will also be employed in both quantitative (validation) and qualitative (inquiry) analysis in order to cross-validate data and findings. All survey results and findings are going to be included in a corresponding synthesis report. Target groups elected representatives directors, heads of IT departments and senior public administration managers public administration IT managers & IT staff 3

6 004 Manifesto for Open Source Software and Public Administrations Added value The OSEPA survey covers a wide range of issues in an integrated approach that sets an added value factor for best practice guidelines and policy making in IT and software use among EPAs. Timeline The survey is foreseen to take place in Sep Nov Stay tuned for more info on twitter.com/osepa_project and our Facebook group. The OSEPA consortium has developed and started to promote a manifesto for Open Source Software and Public Administrations. The beginning of the promotional effort was the first OSEPA conference (Dec 1-2, 2010, Badajoz, Spain). The main points of the signatories of the OSEPA promoted manifest are: 1. That the new technologies are a resource that will allow public administrations to reach in better way citizens needs. 2. Our commitment to create awareness in our own territories about the benefits of Open Software could offer to the territories development. 3. To do as much as it is in our hands to establish the measures necessary to implement Free Software in our organisations. 4. To make the citizenship aware of our commitment of using Open Source, informing about the possibilities it can bring to enhance the services of the public administration. 5. To democratise the use of new technologies by all citizens since they allow the government to exercise its functions in a more universal and more efficient way. Free software is an important part of this process of democratization. 4

7 005 Calendar of upcoming events Future open events Interregional Workshop Italy, September 28-29, 2011 Interregional workshop, Stuttgart, December Study Visit in Schoten, Belgium October One of the days of the planned Study Visit in the City of Schoten will be open to the public aiming to attract delegates from all over Europe through an established collaboration with epractice.eu. The City of Schoten has a great deal of experience in using FOSS and plans to present some showcase examples in this event. 5

8 Recent events 006 Study visit in Badajoz, Spain (Dec 2010) OSEPA 1st conference (Badajoz, Spain, Dec 2010) The 3rd Study Visit of the project was held in the region of Extremadura, as a parallel program of the 1st conference and presented the experiences of private and public organizations of this region with FOSS. The conference explored the strategic and policy-making aspects of administrations' transition to FOSS. It gathered high-profile experts, elected representatives, IT managers of public administrations, developers and members of communities. The conference concluded with an institutional signature by political representatives of a Manifesto that presented the main advantages of FOSS for Public Administrations. Interregional Workshop and Site Visit in Latvia (Nov 2010) The workshop's theme was the economic impact of FOSS on the regional economy. Examples of FOSS usage in public administration in Latvia were presented, delivered by the Latvian Open Technology Association, and State Social Assurance Agency - the pioneer in FOSS usage among public administrations in Latvia. Open-source used on staff workstations, servers, and in learning processes were examined during the site visit at the Vidzeme University College. Interregional Workshop and Site Visit in Cyprus (Mar 2011) The workshop focused on 'How we can put pressure on government bodies in order to consider FOSS solutions', while the Site Visit examined current use of FOSS in the Municipality of Strovolos, Cyprus. Interregional Workshop in Sheffield (UK, April 2011) The workshop was held in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield. The main focus areas of the workshop were: 1) the future for FOSS in the UK, 2) the human aspects of implementing FOSS. Study visit in Sheffield (UK, April, 2011) The study visit explored the use of open source in the University of Sheffield and also looked at a smart cities initiative. Participants learned about the use of open source software centrally in the University and about initiatives that utilize FOSS to run commercial development projects. 6

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