Out-of-office work greatly improved for Finnish MPs

The Finnish Parliament hosts 200 Members of Parliament, 180 political advisors, and a Parliamentary office staff of 450. The work of the MPs is very mobile, and the nature of this work demands the use of the most modern mobile devices.

When the Nokia 9300 and 9500 devices were introduced last summer, it was also important to renew the mobile office system used by the MPs. The most important factor in the new system was the automatic, real-time synchronisation of e-mail and calendar services. This is now easily taken care of by the Teamware Mobile solution.

The Finnish Parliament is a pioneer in information technology. In the late 1980s all MPs had access to e-mail via their personal computers. The comprehensive Internet service was launched in 1995, and during 1998 the SGML document standard was introduced.

In connection with the year 2000 compliancy updates, Teamware Office groupware was introduced. Then, in 2004, the Parliament launched its new publishing system, based on Teamware's platform.

When the decision was taken to change the MPs' mobile phones, there was pressure to update the mobile services to be more modern, cost-efficient and easier to use. A pilot group of ten MPs had been testing the real-time Teamware Mobile services for some time.

They were pleased with the new solution, and were not willing to go back to the old one, that was based on the use of text messages, WAP and GSM data, as well as a separate, secure ID card.

Mobile access to e-mail is very important, but even more crucial is the fact that the calendars are up to date at all times. "This has also increased the use of the electronic calendars," explains Hanna-Maria Salminen of the Parliament's IT Office.

"The MPs and their advisors are often on the road participating in different events and occasions - it is important for them to know their calendars are accurate when making new appointments and entries."

Teamware Mobile has answered the Parliament's needs in many ways. Users have been happy with its ease of use. IT administration also encourages mobile use.

"It is easy to perceive the significance of up-to-date information to the MPs and their advisors," she said. Also, numerous staff members of the Parliament find the mobile service extremely useful. Some staff members and MPs use the Nokia 6230i mobile device, which may provide Web access to e-mail in future.

The Parliament has benefited from significant cost savings with the implementation of the Teamware Mobile service. It is now possible to fully use the GPRS network functionalities, insofar as speed of use and low costs are concerned in comparison with the use of the SMS-based system.

The mobile office is instantly in use when the mobile phone is switched on, and the software works automatically in the background. The new wireless services mobilise the MPs' groupware, including both e-mail and calendar services. The MPs receive their e-mail messages and calendar entries automatically to their mobile phones.

The renewed mobile office service was launched last June. The initial number of users was 300 of which two thirds were MPs and the rest Parliament staff. An additional 20-30 new users were added in recent weeks, when the Parliamentary groups and the State Audit Office joined.

Fujitsu delivers the whole system as a service, taking care of the performance and usability of the service, as well as its maintenance and administration.

The goal of Parliament's IT department is to support the legislative work of the MPs and, at the same time, to create an information channel between the citizens and Parliament. Sovereign power belongs to the people, who are represented by Parliament, and thus, the MPs have to be available to the citizens.

Today the majority of the citizens' feedback to the MPs is sent by e-mail, and it is very important to be able to react quickly when necessary. The Parliament will continue to further develop its IT services. The possibility of integrating the mobile service to contacts synchronisation, backups and an updatable internal phone directory is currently being investigated.

S&T System Integration & Technology Distribution (Malta) Limited are the providers of the Teamware software in Malta (www.snt.com.mt).