A system to evaluate the quality of Italian public administration websites

Within the context of Public Administration (PA), the planning and creation of a website that is effective, efficient and which gives customer satisfaction must make use of a method that enables standardization of processes on the basis of shared rules. This paper describes SmartPA, a system for the real time analysis and monitoring of Italian PA websites, developed by the Institute of Informatics and Telematics of the Italian National Research Council (IIT-CNR). SmartPA was produced within the framework of scientific collaboration with the Department of Digitalization and Technological Innovation of the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The aim of the project was to measure, evaluate and improve the quality of Internet services provided by Italian PAs. SmartPA evaluates the conformity and coherence of PA web contents according to specific Guidelines issued in the years 2010 and 2013 by the Italian Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation. It provides results through a public portal, establishing an open and transparent communication channel between citizens and public administration, thus triggering a process of continuous quality improvement of the PA online services. For some time this has been the focus of Italian PA modernization, with a specific emphasis on closely involving citizens in the process.