Reply to Recommendation 1294 (1996) on the development of computerisation within the Council of Europe

3 April 1997 Doc. 7789

ADOC7789

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Reply to Recommendation 1294 (1996)

on the development of computerisation within the Council of Europe

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 1st April 1997

at the 587th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

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1. The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly that the regular updating of the infrastructure, installed as part of its computerisation strategy, will permit a decentralised, intercommunicating and high-performance computer system to be developed.

2. Following two difficult years, this strategy is once more being implemented at a sustained pace, with a greater emphasis on links with the outside world.

3. In accordance with the Assembly's wishes and the Budget Committee's recommendations, the amounts set aside in the 1996 and 1997 budgets for operating and maintenance expenditure have been supplemented by appropriations for the upgrading of the infrastructure, including numerous shared applications, which will ensure the system's continued effectiveness and development. This upgrading, which will cost a total of some 30 million francs over the two years, will eventually make it possible to reconfigure more than a thousand work stations and to provide them with a high-performance suite of applications which will permit shared working, data base management, message systems and access to Internet and Intranet.

4. These developments have been facilitated by the creation of several technical posts in 1996, which has made it possible to deal with issues relating to security, maintenance, data base development and project management.

5. One of the most striking developments during this period will have been the establishment of several sites on the World Wide Web, linked to a single Council of Europe home page. The Committee of Ministers' and Parliamentary Assembly's sites in particular offer the Council's partners and the general public a great deal of regularly updated information: decisions, reports, recommendations, agendas, information bulletins and press releases. The judgments of the European Court of Human Rights will also be available from this spring on a special site.

6. The rapid diffusion of this new technology calls for a thorough review of the Organisation's information systems and communication policy. Target audiences, needs and procedures are being re-examined, as part of an ongoing exercise.

7. The Committee of Ministers will continue to pay particularly close attention to two aspects of computerisation which require special vigilance.

8. The first, to which the Assembly has rightly drawn attention, concerns training: given the scale of the changes, staff must be able to master the computer tools to a greater extent, not only as regards understanding the equipment, which is constantly evolving, but also the working methods. Directorates and Departments will have to adapt their administrative procedures and information systems with a view to fully benefiting from the investment made.

9. The second concerns the clear separation of roles between the computer service, which is responsible for the infrastructure (coherence, security, reliability and development), and the user departments, who are becoming increasingly involved in the development of specific applications which they need to meet their objectives. This increasing involvement must be accompanied by a more rigorous approach to projects, which will be the subject of a series of corrective measures currently being prepared by the Secretary General in response to the comments of various watchdog and advisory bodies.