Dieter Spalink, Frank Walter
FÜSYS
A leadership information system for
strategic1 management of
success-relevant projects in ministries and
other major authorities
1
Other possible, yet more awkard translation in the given context: "strategy-oriented"
1. Background
For over ten years public administration in Germany is involved in an encompassing
modernisation process at all levels (nationally, i.e. at federal level; provincially, i.e. in
the Länder; and locally). The authorities are not only being prepared for the
requirements of a modern administration, but their co-operation is also placed on a
business-economic basis to replace traditional administrative processes.
At the same time, information and communication technology established itself in the
authorities and their daily work. Modern administration can no longer be imagined
without computers, special office communication software and the various special
applications.
Further progress in information and communication technology, however, opens
many more possibilities of improving administrative processes. Currently Intranet,
Internet and processes such as e-Administration and e-Government are the main
focus points.
This development has a direct impact on leadership patterns and the flow of
information within an authority and between different authorities and administrative
offices.
Information and knowledge, particularly for administration within ministries, are
becoming increasingly more complex and diverse. Rapid and easy availability of
political and/or administrative leadership information on the most important intentions
and projects is thus becoming of increasing importance for the responsible persons
within ministerial structures.
Against this background, information management may be seen as a cross-sectional
function for public administration. If information is utilised systematically, it is
transformed into knowledge. At the same time information management becomes
knowledge management. It is in the field of knowledge management that the public
administration sector, as opposed to field of information management, still finds itself
only at the beginning of development that will lead to tangible results.
IT-supported management information systems will soon become an integral part of
information and knowledge management. FÜSYS (Führungsinformations-System =
Management- or LeadershipInformationSystem) is a compact, IT-supported system
that collects strategy-oriented project management data, processes it and then
integrates it into a standardised information system for management of an authority.
1.1
Definition
FÜSYS is a program that allows cross-hierarchical project management in ministries
or other similar organisations. FÜSYS thus only captures such projects that are
 politically and/or
 procedurally and/or
 organisationally and/or
 financially
of importance or for which management has a special responsibility.
Projects
Gov’s Working Programm
European Union issues of priority
Parliamentary issues
First FÜSYS screen
The program makes available strategic management information according to
priorities. It thus requires goal-oriented information on politically and administratively
significant projects. Such information is obtained from the management and
leadership information cycle as defined by FÜSYS.
FÜSYS is compactly structured:













List of projects
Overview of projects
Basic data
Core data
Planning
Participation
Budget
Press and publicity work
Strategy basis I
Strategy basis II
Reporting
Reporting dates
Reporting documentation
FÜSYS takes into consideration strategic and operative management information.
Strategic management information may include, for example:




Positions
Interests
Target perspectives
Performance data, particularly comparable performance data.
Operative management information may include, for example:




Basic numbers
Statistics
Process data
Result data
For FÜSYS it is of primary concern that information and knowledge on the project
and on strategic project progression is made available in condensed form addressing
the various information requirements of the respective management levels. For this
purpose the program thus offers data entry screens with questionnaires, providing
only limited space for text describing the project.
2
Philosophy
2.1
Goals and services
The goals of this software can thus be summarised as follows:







Ensuring availability of up-to-date, well-structured information that is reduced to its
core contents
Optimising strategy-oriented and priority-oriented project management
Systematically presenting project structures with project documentation being
clearly structured and accessible at all times
Efficiently structuring and presenting project information in a cross-hierarchical
information cycle
Compactly presenting current project overviews
Improving project transparency and co-ordination
Reducing the amount of information being distributed on paper
2.2
Directorates
In the functional system of FÜSYS, the responsible directorates in the ministries
(departments) are of particular importance, since data entry and operative project
management are always effected by the responsible directorates. It is here that all
pertinent project-related information is collected. This underlines the importance of
this work unit and its responsibility within the information cycle.
Furthermore, the FÜSYS program ensures that the participating directorates are
involved in project management in order to guarantee transparency.
Strategic care, however, is always offered through the respective FÜSYS level to
which the project was allocated. Strategic care and allocation imply that this level will
be provided with reports and will then - in co-operation with the responsible
directorate - take over the strategic management of the project and the flow of
information.
2.3
Flow of information
With its uniform database, FÜSYS allows immediate access to all current states of
the project and thus allows clear process management. The resulting transparency
also improves co-ordination among all participants.
FÜSYS ensures an integrated cross-hierarchical flow of management information.
This can be most clearly seen in the Government’s working program” ["ArbeitsProgramm der Regierung (APRO)“]. In this working program not only management is
provided with the respectively required information, but project information is also
exchanged between the authorities.
FÜSYS thus optimises the flow of information on a horizontal as well as a vertical
level, the main improvement, however, being the flow of information from the bottom
up.
The integrated reporting is structured in terms of the planning data – as set by
political bodies. The reports – as well as, of course, also the basic data – can be
accessed at any time. Project development in terms of time and actual progress is
reflected and can be reviewed.
FÜSYS – as all data processing systems – can, however, only reach its full potential
if all participants ensure through the relevant input that information is complete and
up-to-date.
Furthermore, FÜSYS can only fulfil its purpose if it is actually utilised as management
information system. The flow of information through the various levels of
management must thus be kept alive. Only if the basic data, the overviews and
reports are specifically requested and downloaded, its full potential can be unfolded
and can be utilised as added value for the work of a ministry. And it must be ensured
that management too uses the system to ensure the efficient flow of information from
top to bottom.
2.4
Further synergies
With project management and the management information cycle being organised by
FÜSYS, responsibility and significance of the directorates are not only strengthened,
but the possibilities for further facilitation of work is generated:
Given a stringent flow of information, consistent data input by the directorates and
continuous use of FÜSYS by the management levels
 the amount of documentation on paper for the relevant management levels is
significantly reduced or eliminated altogether
 project management will become more efficient through the scheduled and
sustainable involvement of all hierarchies
 the amount of available information within an authority is improved
 preparing and holding important meetings, such as meetings of heads of
divisions, will become easier
 transparency of project decisions, project development and project history will be
improved
 co-ordination within the framework of project participation can be conducted in
good time and in an open manner
 the strategic competencies of the entire organisation can be further developed.
Besides utilisation within an information cycle, FÜSYS can also be used internally to
carry out projects on the level of directorates only.
2.5
Access and utilisation rights
With its organisation of the information cycle, FÜSYS reflects a particular structure of
rights and duties. It is (still) guided by the monocratic structures of authorities.
But FÜSYS is to assist in overcoming the monocratically organised structure of
authorities. It is to be developed dynamically and will in future also have to allow for
read access to FÜSYS projects on a vertical level.
The directorate is the most important organisational unit in the FÜSYS system. It is
here that data input is effected and individual decisions on the projects are entered. It
is also here that project data and draft reports are internally released in order to
prepare the saving of basic data or final reports, and it is here that the relevant level
is nominated. The directorate thus is the only organisational unit that has both readonly as well as write-only rights in FÜSYS.
All higher management levels only have read-only rights over FÜSYS projects, but
can comment on projects and can create internal projects. They can only access
saved basic data and saved reports. They cannot read the current data input within
the framework of project development or other draft stages, e.g. when basic data is
being entered or reports compiled.
The general principle is that the management level immediately above an
organisational unit may read all FÜSYS projects of that particular organisational unit.
This implies that a Chief Director may see FÜSYS projects of all directorates and that
a Head of Division may see all FÜSYS projects of his division. This basic principle is
continued upward and thus at the level of secretary of state or of a minister all
FÜSYS projects of the ministry can be read.
2.6
Co-ordination processes
Data will be entered in the directorates in order to allow secure and all-encompassing
planning and reporting with the relevant co-ordination processes.
Thus each project will initially be considered as an internal project by the respective
directorate and will be processed as a draft project. During this stage, i. e. at the
beginning of data entry, each date entered can still be deleted.
If all project data has been entered, the co-ordination process within the project can
commence. For this purpose the body of data on the project will be internally
released in the system. The data has not yet been saved as raw data and is not yet
visible in the hierarchy. Now the head of the directorate can review the data entries
on the project.
It is planned that during this stage FÜSYS will actively involve the hierarchical levels
in project management and the information cycle. Basic data as well as the draft
reports will be co-ordinated - generally via e-mail - before they are saved and thus
become part of the open information cycle within the hierarchy.
Thus only authorised project data and project development information with their
respective strategic contents are available on the system and can be read with the
respective access rights. All information on a project, the state of a project or the
strategic environment of a project is then known to the participating leadership levels
before the respective level can read it. While FÜSYS thus reflects the classical
hierarchy, it fully integrates all responsible parties from the beginning.
After completion of this co-ordination process and after a decision has been passed
up to which level the data will be accessible (relevant level), the project can no longer
be deleted. Once the basic data have been saved, the project will become readable
for the relevant level.
A special feature is the co-ordination of report dates. Reports are always directed at
the relevant FÜSYS level. During the further FÜSYS process, this level must thus
become active when basic data are to be saved. It can then access the FÜSYS
project allocated to itself and can determine the amount of information required for
management during the course of project development. It can also stipulate when
reports have to be compiled and what (specific) strategic information they should
contain. This is a classical management function in the FÜSYS process.
3
3.1
Government’s Working Program
Principles
The Government’w Working Program (Arbeitsprogramm - APRO) documents
politically significant projects of the government that were earmarked as APRO
projects by a decision of parliament. The chancellory co-ordinated the program of
work with the data processing application APRO that was developed for this purpose
and for the chancellory only. During the past legislative period approximately 700
projects were monitored by APRO.
After completion of the working program for the 12. legislative period all participating
departments and the chancellory critically analysed the existing processes of the
government's program of work and decided that FÜSYS was well suited as a projectoriented platform to integrate APRO.
3.2
APRO Reporting
The APRO structure within FÜSYS consists of the following:




a list of projects
an overview of the projects
basic data: core data on a project, data on planning, participation, budget, press
and publicity work and data on strategic development of the project
reporting, consisting of reporting dates and reporting documentation.
From this complex body of information, all information required for an APRO report is
consolidated on a separate data screen. Such an APRO report will consist of the
following:





the title of the project
a description of the project (reason and goal)
a short text describing the status of the project
the status of project implementation steps
information on the participating departments as well as their opinions concerning
the project.
In an APRO overview, the APRO projects of the departments can be listed by mouse
click (leading departments / participating departments).
APRO projects will be indicated as such on the core data screen of every project. In
the project overview, the project will automatically be classified as APRO project. If
the chancellory stipulates concrete reporting dates, such dates are to be entered into
the normal FÜSYS process and the report is to be compiled. In such a case the
APRO Report box in the screen for report summaries must be activated so that this
report can then be included in the inter-departmental presentation as an APRO
report. If this box is not activated, the respective report will enter the normal FÜSYS
cycle and will not be inter-departmentally accessible.
Changes to the progression of the project and retrospective entry of data are effected
electronically by FÜSYS and APRO. This also applies to the co-ordination process
within the framework of departmental participation in an APRO project. With APRO
being integrated in FÜSYS, the chancellory and the departments can at all times gain
an up-to-date overview of the individual projects.
A clear overview of project development can also be obtained through the data
available in FÜSYS and this can then be utilised in APRO. However, the chancellory
only has access to such projects that were defined for APRO-monitoring by way of a
decision of cabinet, and has no access to other FÜSYS data of the ministries.