ICT usage in municipalities and county authorities (discontinued), 2003

In 2003, 96 per cent of the municipalities had their own website. This represents a growth of 9 percentage pointsfrom the year before. Availability of some chosen services on the website are mapped both in 2002 and 2003. In 2002, it was possible to order written material as brochures and local plans from 29 per cent of the municipalities. In 2003, this part had grown to 44 per cent. In comparison, 62 per cent of the Danish municipalities offered this service in 2003. The possibility to download prints and forms were present by 44 per cent of Norwegian municipalities in 2002. This part increased to 57 per cent in 2003, while corresponding part among Danish municipalities reached 93 per cent. In Norway it was possible to report personal data as applications of building or applications of accommodation to kindergarten through the website of 13 per cent of the municipalities. This represents a growth of 5 points of per cent from 2002. In Denmark the same service was available among 39 per cent of the municipalities in 2003. Beyond this online-payment of services on website were available among 24 per cent of Danish municipalities, but none of the Norwegian in 2003.

In Norway there are a plain distinguish between big and small municipalities concerning availability of chosen services on the websites. Among municipalities with more than 15 000 inhabitants it is possible to order written material from 71 per cent of the municipalities. Among municipalities with less than 15 000 inhabitants the corresponding part are 39 per cent. Equivalent distinctions are registered for the other services that are mapped in the survey.

Use of different types of IT systems

Among the systems that are mapped in the survey, classic electronic filing systems are most widespread. 95 per cent of the municipalities were using that type of systems in 2003. Geographic information systems (GIS) and electronic document handling systems are also widespread with 89 and 72 per cent of the municipalities respectively. In comparison 80 per cent of the Danish municipalities were using classic electronic filing systems, 92 per cent were using GIS and 60 per cent were using document handling systems.

IT security

In 2003, 54 per cent of municipalities in Norway had a IT security policy that were approved by the direction, and 41 per cent of the municipalities had a state plan of readiness that were updated during the last to years. Continuous IT education of employees was carried through by 28 per cent of the municipalities. In comparison 89 per cent of the Danish municipalities had an IT security policy that were approved by the direction and 46 per cent had a state plan of readiness that were updated. Continuous IT education of employees was carried through by 43 per cent of the Danish municipalities. In Norway there are big differences between small and big municipalities for these variables. In municipalities with more than 15 000 inhabitants, 58 per cent of the municipalities report that they have continuous IT education of employees. In municipalities with less than 15 000 inhabitants 22 per cent of the municipalities gave the same answer.

When it comes to application of different types of security systems, 99 per cent of the municipalities answered that they were using firewalls and virus protection systems in 2003. 83 per cent of the municipalities kept back up on other location than the operating area and 62 per cent were using unaruptable power supply. Software that filter unwanted e-mails (Spam-filters) were used by 48 per cent of the municipalities and software that uncover/warn unwanted traffic (intrusion detection software) were used by 24 per cent of the municipalities in 2003. When it comes to use of security systems, the number of inhabitants or regional placing seems to have any marked importance. In Denmark 84 per cent of the municipalities had uneruptable power supply against 62 per cent in Norway. For the other security systems it was small or none differences between Norway and Denmark.

Infrastructure

Leased line and fibre are the most common technologies on the network connection to the administrations of the municipalities. 38 and 34 per cent of the municipalities respectively were using these technologies in 2003. Thereafter xDSL followed with 18 per cent. Technologies as PSTN (analog line) and ISDN are less widespread and together they were used by less than 2 per cent of the municipalities. The bandwidth on the network connection varies and not unexpected it is largest among the big municipalities. Among municipalities with more than 15000 inhabitants, 41 per cent had a in-speed greater than 10Mbit/s and 36 per cent had a in-speed at 2-10Mbit/s. Among municipalities with less than 15000 inhabitants 33 per cent had a in-speed at 2-10 Mbit/s and 37 per cent 1-2 Mbit/s.

Cooperation between municipalities varies by number of inhabitants and regional placing

In the inquiry there are mapped whether the municipalities cooperate with other municipalities on different ICT-tasks. The result shows that the number of inhabitants and regional placement has importance. Municipalities with less than 15000 inhabitants cooperate more with other municipalities than municipalities with more than 15000 inhabitants. By development or obtaining software, 59 per cent of the small municipalities stated that they cooperate with other municipalities, against 36 per cent among the big one. Municipalities in Sogn- og Fjordane, Aust-Agder and Nord-Trøndelag cooperate most with other municipalities while municipalities in Nordland, Troms and Finmark cooperate least with other municipalities. In Sogn- og Fjordane 96 per cent of municipalities answered that they cooperate with other municipalities on development or obtaining software. On the same area 30 per cent of the municipalities in Troms cooperate with other municipalities.

Tables:

• Table 1 Share of the municipalities with own website and/or Intranet, by county and number of inhabitants. 2002 and 2003. Per cent
• Table 2 Share of municipalities with different types of services available on the website, by county and number of inhabitants. 2002 and 2003. Per cent
• Table 3 Share of municipalities which use various ICT systems, by county and number of inhabitants. 2003. Per cent
• Table 4 Chare of municipalities with different security initiatives. Distributed by type of initiatives, county and number of inhabitants. Per cent. 2003
• Table 5 Chare of municipalities that use different types of security systems, distributed by type of system, county and number of inhabitants. Per cent. 2003
• Table 6 Bandwidth in on the network connection to the administration, share of municipalities distributed by bandwidth, county and number of inhabitants. Per cent. 2003
• Table 7 Bandwidth out on the network connection to the administration, share of municipalities distributed by bandwidth, county and number of inhabitants. Per cent. 2003
• Table 8 Technology on the network connection to the administration, share of municipalities distributed by technology, share of municipalities distributed by technology, county and number of inhabitants. Per cent. 2003
• Table 9 Share of municipalities which cooperate with other municipalities on various ICT tasks, distributed by task, county and number of inhabitants. 2003. Per cent