Employees in job centers waste precious time with clients because of outdated IT systems. This is the result of a new field study from the IT University of Copenhagen and the innovation network InfinIT.

They were supposed to allow easier file handling, more time for the important contact with citizens and greater visibility, but do just the opposite. The ESDH systems (electronic document and records management systems) is a time-waster in the job centers.

In the field study "Successful interactions?" The IT University followed the work at a job center closely. And the observations made should give pause for thought.

The study reveals, among other things, that employees only spend half their working time with the citizen. But that's not even the whole story, says associate professor at the IT University, Thomas Hildebrandt:

- Not only does half the time go with administrative work, but when citizens sit in the chair in front of the employee needing help, half of that time goes to explain rules and process flows, because the system is so complicated, explains Thomas Hildebrandt.

Mess and confusion
A blatant example of the system complicating the work is the word "job interview". The word is misleading to both social worker and citizen, as the system does not accept its real meaning. But the system and legislation will not accept other descriptions of the meetings than "job interview" and therefore it creates confusion. At worst, citizens do not show up at the meeting.

- Another example is a young man who had been sent from the center entrance to the youth department and then to medical intervention. The three transitions that occurred here resulted in a total of 15 logs in the system, and that is really a mess, says Thomas Hildebrandt.

Employment legislation is notorious for the difficulty that the interplay between work practices and IT systems presents. For example the National Audit Office in 2001 described the problems with the Labour Board’s defunct Amanda system. A system which, after an approximate a 2-year delay and additional costs of around 200 million DKR, did not support work processes.

- When the current systems were designed, they were not geared to a complex piece of legislation we have today, where the proceedings are handled by a number of specialized units in the job centers. Therefore there is an urgent need to develop new solutions to ensure compliance with regulations and manage that a case changes hands several times without information and the overview is lost en route. My research - and the upcoming seminar in InfinIT's interest group processes and IT on the 22th June at ITU - focuses on being able to put the power to cross-organizational workflows, which are also highly relevant in e.g. health and finance sectors, says Thomas Hildebrandt.

Read the full study here: http://itu.dk/en/Forskning/Technical-Reports/2011/TR-2011-140 (in Danish).

About the field study
The observations and the survey is conducted by research assistant and PhD Magnus Nilsson in the autumn of 2010 and documented in a report released in March 2011. The field study is funded by the innovation network InfinIT and the IT University as a 'mini-project.

About the IT University
The IT University of Copenhagen has existed since 1999 and is an independent university dedicated to the digital world. There are about 2,000 students and 270 employees. The IT University does research on and teaching in a wide spectrum of topics within the field of IT.

About the innovation network InfinIT
InfinIT is a nationwide network of IT innovation, funded by the Board of Research and Innovation. The network includes matchmaking, cooperation and exchange of knowledge between knowledge institutions and companies with IT as a focus. Read more at www.infinit.dk .

Quotes and more information
Associate professor Thomas Hildebrandt, hilde@itu.dk, 7218 5279       
Journalist Mikkel Svane-Petersen, msva@itu.dk, 2555 0447