Navigating the Digital Transformation: The Strategic Shift towards Cloud-Based Legislative Services in Finland's Eduskunta
About the Parliament of Finland. Written on September, 2022
Introduction
In an era of technological advancement, the Eduskunta of Finland, the country's parliament, has begun a significant transition towards a more digital future. It has embarked on a path to migrate its legislative services to a cloud-based platform, a substantial shift that promises to optimise the delivery of public legislative and parliamentary information. This digital transformation is spurred by a confluence of factors, including public demand for improved access to information, impending technical obsolescence, the need for data centralisation, and the requirements of updated EU directives and national recommendations. This essay provides an in-depth exploration of this ambitious endeavour, examining its origins, the driving factors, the proposed strategy, and the expected outcomes.
Origins of the Cloud Transition
The journey towards cloud migration within the Eduskunta began around 2011, marking the initial exploration into this new digital frontier. The first proof of concept was implemented in 2015, offering a glimpse into the potential benefits and challenges of such a transition. The Eduskunta approached this project with a learning-by-doing attitude, gaining valuable insights and lessons from both their successes and areas needing improvement. By 2020, a shift towards a hybrid cloud environment became evident, with the institution utilising both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. AWS served as the backbone of the cloud environment, while Azure was used to provide office software as a service and a container service environment for systems not designated for cloud migration. This hybrid approach also opened the door to international development teams, who had previously been constrained by regulations restricting access to on-premise environments.
Underlying Factors Driving the Migration
Four key reasons underpin the Eduskunta's decision to migrate legislative services to the cloud. Public feedback forms the first cornerstone. Users expressed a desire for a more diverse range of information services, highlighting that the current application programming interfaces (APIs) were not as user-friendly as they could be. The second driver was the technical landscape. The website platform currently in use was nearing its end-of-life, and the dynamic capabilities of cloud-based content management systems offered more advanced and rapidly developing alternatives. The third factor was data-driven. The need to decentralise data warehouses and maximise the utility of existing data became increasingly apparent. Lastly, the evolving regulatory environment necessitated the change. The shifts in EU directives and national cloud transition recommendations called for a more proactive approach towards open data demands.
The Strategy and Expected Outcomes
The strategy for this ambitious transition comprises a complete overhaul of data structures and the establishment of a modern, cloud-based information-sharing platform. The project aims to decentralise data warehouses and reconfigure existing data structures, making them more comprehensible and searchable for both users and search engines. While this is a technically complex process, from an end-user perspective, the goal is to unify the parliament's websites and the open data service into a single, modern platform operating on the cloud. This transformation is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.
In terms of expected outcomes, the migration promises to offer a more diverse, accessible, and user-friendly information service. From enhancing the public's interaction with legislative services to providing a more streamlined experience through advanced APIs, the benefits are manifold. Moreover, the shift towards a cloud-based platform aligns with EU directives and national cloud transition recommendations, ensuring compliance with current regulations.
The Eduskunta of Finland's move to migrate its legislative services to the cloud is a strategic endeavour, underlining its commitment to digital transformation. This shift is not merely a response to technological progression or regulatory requirements, but a proactive initiative aimed at improving the accessibility and diversity of the information services it offers. By becoming more diverse data users in addition to data producers, the Eduskunta seeks to maximise the potential of the valuable data at its disposal.
The migration promises more than just cost savings and improved efficiency. It opens up new avenues for data usage, with diverse formats such as ready-made data sets for experts, raw XML or JSON data for application developers, and user-friendly data for average citizens. This range of formats is expected to cater to various user needs, thus enhancing the overall user experience.
Furthermore, the cloud-based platform is anticipated to facilitate the use of machine intelligence, opening up new frontiers in data analytics and visualisations. This progression is likely to improve the delivery and consumption of legislative services, allowing for more targeted searches and providing versatile information.
In addition, the migration to the cloud paves the way for a long technical life cycle, decentralised data, and a service that meets the requirements of both the law and end users. It represents a significant step towards modernising the parliament's information services, promising a user-centric approach that meets the needs of its diverse users.
Conclusion
The Eduskunta's journey towards cloud migration symbolises its commitment to continuous learning and improvement. It remains open to insights from similar projects and welcomes ideas that can enhance this initiative. As it navigates the challenges of this digital transformation, it holds steadfast to its vision: creating an accessible, efficient, and user-friendly platform that not only informs but also engages the public in the legislative process.
In conclusion, the migration of legislative services to the cloud is a testament to the Eduskunta of Finland's dedication to leveraging technology to improve its services. This strategic shift, while complex, promises to yield significant benefits in terms of user engagement, data utilisation, and regulatory compliance. It epitomises the continuous evolution of public services in the digital age, paving the way for a more informed and engaged public.