Interview with TAdviser: Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko - on the strategy and tactics of the digital transformation of the state

Dmitry Chernyshenko: Digital transformation is already a natural process of filling "digital" with everything that surrounds us - house, transport, clinic, school. It is no coincidence that digitalization was included in the country's national development goals. It should make people's lives more comfortable and safer, ensure the competitiveness of any branch of the economy.

What is the main thing in digital transformation? This, of course, is an increase in the quality of public services, a reduction in the costs of business and public administration, an increase in the efficiency and security of information systems, and a reduction in the shadow economy. Indicators are formed for each goal, a transformation plan is drawn up, which is then specified in the action program.

To understand and monitor the current situation of digitalization of key sectors of the economy and social sphere, the Government approved a methodology for calculating indicators for achieving the national goal "Digital Transformation." Our task is to transfer all socially significant services to electronic form by 2030. To do this, you need to provide the entire country with Internet, including its most remote corners. Therefore, we continue to eliminate digital inequality, we connect small settlements to the Internet (with a population of 100 to 500 people) - we plan to complete this work by the end of 2030. And by the end of this year, we will connect all socially significant objects to the Internet, including educational organizations, feldsher-midwife stations, state authorities and local governments.

In 2020, the pandemic and related restrictions became a serious incentive for the transition to a digital format of interaction between citizens and the state. The demand for the State Services portal has increased many times: more than 40 new electronic services appeared on it in just a few months. Today there you can apply for unemployment benefits, get a notification from the bailiffs. A maternity certificate and payments for children are automatically issued. Applicants with a confirmed account have the opportunity to send documents to several universities at once and monitor the situation and results in their personal account.

People without leaving home, solve many medical, labor, legal issues, appeal various fines (for violation of traffic rules and others). By the end of 2022, all mass public services will be available in electronic format. Such a list has already been formed - there are 169 of them.

In short, experience in the pandemic has confirmed that we can launch new electronic services very quickly. The terms of their provision are reduced - about a few minutes or hours.

By the end of March, a new version of the public services portal will be launched - on a more advanced technological platform that can withstand the highest user load, with a new search system and chat bots. We will transfer 20 services to it first, and 100 by the end of the year.

At the same time, the process of digitalization of state power is underway at all levels - federal, regional and municipal. The leaders of digital transformation (RCTs) or, as we call them, RCTs are responsible for such work. They are appointed in all ministries and departments (62 FOIVA). These are deputy ministers or heads of departments.

On behalf of the President, since December 2020, leaders of digital transformation have been identified in all 85 entities and regional executive bodies. They are responsible for digitalizing the main sectors of the economy in the region. A mechanism for the exchange of experience has been established, problems are examined in a weekly format, and good practices are discussed.

RCTs also close all projects to optimize and digitalize the processes of providing public services and performing control and supervisory functions. They are personally responsible for achieving performance indicators. And we see that the work on digital transformation has intensified.

Dmitry Chernyshenko: Recently, we summed up the annual work of the heads of the digital transformation of federal ministries and departments. They evaluated the fulfillment of budget obligations in solving the tasks of digital transformation, achieving key performance indicators and looked at the quality of the implementation of Government instructions in the field of digitalization. As a result, 18 departments showed a high efficiency result, the rest - average and below average.

Among the leaders of the rating are Roskomnadzor, Rostekhnadzor, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, Rospatent, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Tax Service, the Russian Emergencies Ministry and others.

The average result, for example, was shown by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and a number of other departments.

Low indicators - at Rosmolodezha, Rosmorrechflot, Rosarchiv, the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and some others.

We are now working on them in terms of identifying new RCTs in the rank of deputy heads of departments.

I must say that this is a signal for the entire digital industry. It is important to remember that ministries and regional authorities must begin with digital transformation and take these issues seriously. They are introducing changes in industries throughout the country.

Dmitry Chernyshenko: In fact, the head of digital transformation is a key position in the system of modern public administration. RCTschniki are conductors of advanced solutions in all spheres of life. But before, as I said above, they work out technology in their departments. Agree, it is impossible to modernize the industry, especially to regulate it with artificial intelligence, if you yourself do not understand the issue.

And from August 2020, they began to develop projects to introduce artificial intelligence into the work of their ministries. RCTs were trained in new competencies, the use of AI technologies, and prepared their design solutions. Then there was protection at strategic sessions. It is too early to talk about the introduction of new solutions in departments, projects have passed the stage of public protection.

I can say that they are all different and interesting. They were prepared by individual departments or several at once in the framework of joint work.

For example, the Ministry of Sports proposed digitalizing the process of receiving sports awards, and the Ministry of Energy presented a breakthrough project to automate the creation of unified information models for state information systems, which will allow you to move to industry 4.0. Or, for example, Digital Fraud Response is a mobile application that can block incoming calls, SMS, MMS from suspicious phone numbers.

From joint projects, for example, one can distinguish the digitalization of the process of registration and registration of hotel residents through EPSU. Or take an environmental topic - it was proposed to develop a single digital platform that will inform industry organizations about the state of the environment so that they respond quickly, as well as ordinary people - that is, to allow every citizen to be heard in environmental matters.

Dmitry Chernyshenko: I will highlight two main areas of development. The first is within the framework of the national program "Digital Economy of Russia." In it, the Program management system is based on Government resolutions (PP-234 and PP-1288).

And in this part, the main feature of management is that in addition to the Government and federal ministries, experts and business play an active role in the process - these are expert organizations, competence centers, etc. They allow you to get quick feedback from sectors of the economy, learn about the best cases and practices, verify decisions made, give an operational assessment of the effects of the Program and offer, if necessary, adjustments.

The second direction, or vector, was set in 2020, after the development and approval of 60 departmental digital transformation programs (HVAC). Here, the main actors are just RCTniki. The Ministry of Digital Affairs of Russia sets the general coordination and direction of work, considers and approves the programs of the Presidium of the Right Commission for Digital Development.

As a result, in the first case, we create common institutional, infrastructure conditions for the development of the digital economy, and at the expense of the RTC (in the second case) accelerate digitalization in all sectors. Thus, a comprehensive management of digital transformation in the country has been created. And we expect from such a formed control system to get an additional synergistic effect.

Dmitry Chernyshenko: The main changes are related to the second direction of the development of digital transformation, as I mentioned above.

In fact, the implementation of the HPCT started in January 2021. To assess the effectiveness and effectiveness of these programmes, we have established a monitoring mechanism. Quarterly it will be dealt with by the Ministry of Digital Affairs of Russia. And the first results of the Presidium of the Commission will be considered in April-May 2021.

In general, I would like to emphasize that the general approach to the digital transformation management system is not planned to be radically reformed. But we are constantly working to increase efficiency, so some measures are mainly aimed at eliminating bottlenecks, if necessary we will take them.

Dmitry Chernyshenko: Yes, the departments are faced with the task of developing industry datasets. For example, in 2021, the Federal Air Transport Agency, as part of a pilot test, plans to create a set of visual data - the results of search for rescue operations with the binding of the search object on the ground.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs, with the participation of interested federal and regional authorities and business, is developing requirements for the formation and maintenance of datasets. Access to kits and publications will be taken into account.

A draft methodology for assessing the quality of application of artificial intelligence technologies in departmental digital transformation programs is being developed.

Documents are subject to interagency coordination. After that, they will be sent to approve the Right Commission for Digital Development, the Use of Information Technologies to Improve the Quality of Life and the Conditions of Entrepreneurial Activity.

Dmitry Chernyshenko: "Figure" is being introduced into all structures and this process, of course, is already actively underway in the regions. As we said, the leaders of the digital transformation of all subjects and regional authorities have been appointed on the ground. They became involved in solving important social problems. And to evaluate their work, we developed the so-called digital maturity index of the regions. Its main criteria are the level of training for the industry, the cost of information technology and, most importantly, the digitalization index of key industries. Assessment - for 10 main industries.

For example, what is digital maturity in healthcare? These are indicators of the activity of medical organizations in using new opportunities, in particular, telemedicine or electronic document management. Next, we look at the proportion of citizens who use online services - this is an appointment with a specialist, a doctor's call to the house, an electronic medical record and others. In this format, the assessment will be in other areas.

By April 2021, we will prepare a digital maturity index for the first quarter. In general, the index indicator was formed until 2030 and its planned values ​ ​ are mandatory for implementation annually.

Digital transformation in the regions, including the availability of all mass and socially significant public services in electronic form, is mainly the responsibility of the leaders of the subjects, their KPIs, if you want. Therefore, there is already an incentive. The RTsTshnikov Institute was approved by President Vladimir Putin. And he supported our proposal to involve governors in this work so that they appoint those responsible for digital transformation and oversee this work on the ground.

Dmitry Chernyshenko: The task of the President was set - to create regional management centers throughout the country by the beginning of December 2020. And I am grateful for the speed of the local authorities and everyone who participated in this process. We have done tremendous joint work. By the deadline, centers have opened everywhere.

SDGs are, of course, a strong project for the interaction of the executive branch with the population. Employees of the centers record and process messages and complaints of citizens that are formed according to sectoral blocks: health care, education, transport, energy, housing and communal services, roads. Then the requests are sent to those responsible for the operational solution. The government hears and reacts - this is the basic principle of their work.

A large array of information flows to the SDGs, it is structured, analyzed, including using digital technologies. And, importantly, it can then be used to adjust management decisions. See and rule out the "weak link."

The SDG significantly saves time to solve emerging problems in the region and prevents their recurrence in the future through analysis, monitoring systems. The main task of the centers is to increase the responsiveness of regional authorities to citizens' appeals. In fact, a mechanism has been created for quick decision-making by officials.

At the same time, the SDG is not just a message aggregator, but a complex structure. He informs residents on the topics of appeals, feedback mechanisms, and the results of activities. Operational and analytical information is submitted for decision to the relevant authorities and is regularly reported to the leadership of the region.

In total, starting in 2020, TSUR processed over 2.5 million appeals of Russians. Centers do not sort them into important and not important ones. People mainly write about open hatches, uncleaned snow, about queues to a local clinic. All complaints are promptly processed and analysed.

The main thing, of course, is to reduce the time of processing information from the population so that problems are solved quickly and qualitatively. Today, the topic descends to the municipal level: similar centers are created on the ground.

For example, they appeared in five pilot regions - in, Vologda,, and Kaluga Kursk Ulyanovsk Moscow regions. And this is logical, because about half of all messages that come to the TsURs come from municipal ones. Based on the formations results of the work of such centers, we will decide on their scaling throughout the country.

A comprehensive system has been created to carry out digital transformation in the country. And we see that it functions at every level. If necessary, we adjust the solutions so that everything works clearly and without failures.