3 barriers to PSI re-use in the public sector

Improving citizens experience, promoting collective intelligence and social participation or using predictive analysis to spot social trends and societal needs. These are just some of the benefits of the reuse of public sector information (PSI) in the public sector, according to a report elaborated by the OECD, but there are many more.

Despite these benefits, and increasing offer of open information provided by European public bodies, PSI re-use in the public sector has not yet reached it full potential. In order to identify what are the barriers behind this fact, the European Data Portal (EDP) has just made a new study based on a series of interviews and workshops with experts in this field. The conclusions are included in the Analytical report 11: Re-use of PSI in the public sector.

Barriers to PSI re-use in the public sector

The report groups the barriers for PSI re-use in the public sector into 3 groups:

• Supply-demand-gap in PSI publishing: One of the main barriers to PSI re-use is data availability. This is not limited to the quantity of data, but also lack of alignment with the interests of re-users, due to a lack of communication between providers and users. In addition, published data do not always have the necessary quality, among other reasons, due to the lack of updating and homogeneity among countries, which makes their reuse inefficient and expensive. All this reasons generates a lack of confidence in reusers.
• Lack of awareness of PSI availability and benefits: There is a lack of general awareness about the reuse of public information and its benefits in the public sector. The publication of open data is considered a duty rather than an opportunity, and its reuse is more focused on private companies than the public sector itself. Benefits such as the increase in transparency, reputation, reliability and trust are considered side effects of the publication, rather than possible benefits of reuse.

• Insufficient management of capabilities:  Advanced IT capabilities may be necessary for some positions and projects, but not for all. Instead, one of the main barriers is the lack of attitude and general knowledge about the reuse of public information. For example, knowing the terms and conditions of the various licenses, enabling a human team that integrates different capacities or seeking funds, are some of the necessary capabilities that are not always available when a reuse project is initiated. In addition, there is a lack of leadership and coordination, with a large number of professionals working in silos, which makes sharing good practices difficult.

Three solutions to overcome these obstacles

To overcome these barriers, the EDP suggests three different solutions:

• Building a data sharing culture: According to the report, one of the most important issues is to enable and encourage communication to avoid the gap that exists between the providers' supply and the users' demands regarding availability, quality, documentation and publication. The creation of a community to share knowledge and resources or the signing of bilateral agreements between reusers and suppliers, are some of the mechanisms that can help to foster the culture of data exchange. In addition, it is important that public administrations adopt the PSI directive, which includes lines of action that can help promote re-use, such as the use of common standards among EU countries.

• Enabling PSI reusers in the public sector: To increase awareness of reusing PSI in the public sector, a solid communication strategy is necessary. This strategy should be related to the specific needs of the public sector and explain how PSI reuse can help overcome specific challenges. It is also important to launch training or certification programs that help acquire the general knowledge necessary to start a PSI reuse project.

• Establishing the organisational capability for PSI re-use: To exploit the benefits of PSI re-use, an organisation’s leadership has to set an ecosystem that incubates and supports development of competencies. This includes acquiring and developing the right talent, launching a technical infrastructure and implementing the necessary tools.

Finally, it should be noted that the EDP establishes a series of recommendations to become a successful PSI reuse, such as the use of learning resources, sharing insight and thoughts within the organization or the promotion of open data as a integral part of the business cases, among other actions.