Ensure availability of (real-time) information and knowledge

Information is an asset that is constitutive to the effective and efficient supply of public services. To ensure that information meets the purposes for which it is intended, it must be accurate, accessible, valid, timely, complete and relevant (relevance especially means regional explicit information). [1]
In all the interviews that we conducted, it has become very clear and verified that information plays a very important role in policy making processes.
According to the interviewed researcher in the field of administrative science , real-time data becomes relevant especially for the operative administration on the local level, for example, in the field of infrastructure. Information also plays an important role in economic policy. Up to now, current economic policy is based on very precise but outdated data. However, in such a dynamic environment, having up-to-date information is of great relevance.
The interviewed division head in the policy domain “Youth and Welfare"  emphasised that a good information situation, which means a certain amount of information in a good quality, is a precondition for further analyses and evaluations. In areas where there is already many data, initial success has been achieved. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement here. However, it has been restricted that more than information is needed to positively change the policy process. Organisational conditions must be established to use this information adequately. For example, employees need to be able to understand and to use this information as well as to find creative solutions. This need seems to be closely connected with other needs, such as a comprehensive knowledge and information management, a deeper understanding IT potential and IT processes, and the establishment of a target-oriented personnel development.

[1]    Hanger. S., Pfenninger, S., Dreyfus, M., Patt, A. (2013), Knowledge and information needs of adaptation policy-makers: a European study, Regional Environmental Change, 13(1), 91-101.