Integrating groupware and workflow in a public administration

The objective of the project PoliFlow is to improve work flow and cooperation within and between administrative bodies by means of an efficient, reliable, and safe flow of information as well as by improvements in the organisation of work. Spatially distributed work is supported by using telecooperation technologies. The analysis of processes in the field showed that even well-defined and regulated administrative processes comprise large portions of ill-structured tasks which require a considerable degree of problem solving and spontaneous cooperation between different persons and groups. After - during a first phase - having analysed and realised the support of processes in the fields of public civil engineering by means of a prototype workflow management system, an intranet architecture is developed in the second phase, which constitutes a uniform and general platform for the support of processes, different information services and telecooperation. Various processes and services have already been realised and set up, e.g. an information and allocation system for federal housing, which will be used in respect of the government's relocation from Bonn to Berlin.