The Online Access Act (OZG) is a topic that is currently omnipresent. The federal law to improve online access to administrative services is to be implemented by the end of 2022. This is an enormous challenge for many administrations. Read this article to find out what the OZG is and how we, as a technology company, can support administrations in implementing this law and other digitization projects.

Digitization of administrations

The most fundamental purpose of the Online Access Act is to promote digitization in municipal administrations. It obliges the federal, state and local governments to also offer a total of 575 administrative services electronically. This is supposed to be realized via administrative portals by the end of 2022. In the long term, these are to be linked to form a portal network. The aim is to create a digital identity for citizens and companies through a uniform user account. This way, people can identify themselves online and use all online administration services.

Overall, this accelerates communication between the administrations of the municipalities and their citizens and companies. In addition, by offering them online, numerous processes become more user-friendly and efficient overall. People no longer depend on opening times or long journeys to the administration office. On the other hand, the implementation of the law turns out to be quite complicated due to the complex landscape of German authorities.

Pandemic as an accelerator for the digitization

The COVID-19 pandemic has noticeably advanced digitization. This was also clearly felt at the administrative level. Appointment calendars and registrations were made available online to simplify contact tracing and avoid accumulations of people waiting. Overall, the implementation of the OZG is aimed at faster procedures and administrative services. These hich are intended to make everyday life easier for users and create uniform standards. As a result, administrations will also appear digitally as service providers for citizens and companies. However, this does not only make the process easier for citizens and companies, but also represent a great help for employees of the administrations themselves. On the other hand, the administrations now face the challenge of actually implementing this digitization on time by the end of the year.

Fabrik19 as technology partner

 As a technology company, we see it as our responsibility to actively support progress in digitization. This includes, among other things, that we support municipalities in digitizing their administrations. Together with our subsidiary Distama GmbH, which is an agency for city marketing and employs experts for city apps, we represent a good alliance of the right technology, the necessary know-how and relevant experience in the context of ‘Smart Cities’. Plus, our company’s premium software, the Mobility Suite mos. makes a precise adaptation to the requirements and wishes of our customers possible. City administration services can easily be digitally integrated through interfaces and offered to the citizens. In addition, we offer professional consulting and long-term support. This way, we would like to help smaller municipalities in particular to achieve a digitized administration. Projects aimed at implementing the OZG can receive funding from numerous state funds.

Online appointment scheduling program ‘ontever’ as a case in point

With our digital solution ‘ontever’, which specializes in city administrations, citizens and companies were able to easily select the desired service on the city of Giessen’s website and book an appointment without prior registration, even during the pandemic. “For us as a city, it was important that online appointment scheduling was intuitive and easy to use for our employees and citizens. ontever was simply integrated into our website via iFrame. We are already planning to introduce ontever in other specialist departments as well,” says Sabrina Bechtle. She is responsible for project management and city-wide organizational development at the city of Giessen.

Administrative services in city apps

Administrative services can also be implemented digitally into an app. The Distama GmbH is increasingly focusing on the concept of ‘Smart Cities’. For instance, a refuse collection calendar tailored to one’s own address, a defect report, an online wedding calendar, video advice or a passport query can be integrated into a city app. A further step in the sense of the OZG would be the integration of the so-called citizen account into such digital solutions.

To summarize, our proprietary premium software mos. and our experience in this field and in the development of complicated, digital processes in general makes us a reliable technology partner. We have the appropriate know-how and the necessary prerequisites to support the municipalities in the digitization of their administrations and to guarantee an intuitive, high-quality operation on different devices. Please feel free to contact us with your request.