Obstacles Encountered
The projects considered in this report have also
encountered several obstacles in implementing pilot
demonstrations. These obstacles are seen to be
rather similar, reflecting some common issues and
problems.The common obstacles encountered can
be grouped into:institutional performance, technical
performance, finances and investments and
expertise.
Institutional Performance
The major difficulty faced by most of the projects
was the bureaucracy encountered in the public
administration. Initially the politicians, then the
managers and administrators, have to accept the
importance/priority of the work required. Then
such bureaucracy was experienced in: slow
reactions to the internal decision taking (TEMSIS,
ECOSIM, E-MAIL), low levels of available
competence (HEIS MUC), and responsibility which
is vaguely defined (DANUBE-AEWS).
| OBSTACLES ENCOUNTERED | SPECIFIC ASPECTS | INDICATIONS |
| Institutional performance | Bureaucracy Reluctance to allow shifts in responsibility Legislation poorly implemented |
Slow decision making,
Incompetence,
Undefined responsibilities Poor co-operation No end-user requirements |
| Technical performance | Data availability Telecommunication infrastructures |
Poor standardisation of data
acquired by different sources,
Software incompatibility,
Incompatible indicators Unreliable telematic networks, Limited equipment availability, Poor standardisation |
| Finances and investments | Delayed financial provision | Disrupted data flows |
| Expertise | Inadequate training Low skill levels |
Low staff commitment Poor systems performance, Inability to recruit competent staff |
In addition, the relatively low level of cooperation among users at different levels of the organisation and between different organisations represented an under-estimated drawback for the progress of some projects (IOZIP, JAMS, DANUBE-AEWS). The implementation of a major information system does introduce considerable institutional changes such as power-shifts,etc. Senior management support and a clear vision are crucial for project success (SNIRH). The SIMTRAP project also established that the legislation requiring combined traffic/air pollution studies is still relatively recent and not yet implemented at the national level in many EU countries. As a consequence, potential end users have not yet developed a clear-cut set of requirements towards a use for these projects, greatly influencing the development of the proposed end product, which could only be developed with a best guess of the user requirements. However once a plan is developed, then the necessary infrastructure can be installed as resources permit. After each phase the quality of the service will be enhanced with consequent improvements to the environment and health of the community.
Technical performance
Data
An obstacle encountered by many projects is the
availability of data (ECOSIM, EUROAQ, JAMS and
IOZIP) and the agreements required with the data
providers (ownership, rights, reliability of
deliverance) (E-MAIL and TEMSIS). Further
agreements between partners on the type of
models to be used (IOZIP and ECOSIM) or on the
levels and description of the air quality indicators to
be created (EMMA and EFFECT) have also caused
some bottle-necks in the lifetime of many projects.
In JAMS, the development of the trilateral
agreement on direct access to the data from
monitoring stations,on common dispersion models
and on a common emission inventory for the Black
Triangle area has absorbed more energy than was
expected. Other obstacles are represented by data
transformation from different sources (IOZIP) and
by the presence of different data formats (HEIS-Munich,
Croatia-TNMN, Danube-AEWS).
Infrastructures
Telecommunication infrastructures can represent a
serious gap in the transnational projects developed
in the CEE countries.Here the problems of the lack
of a reliable communication networks (High Speed
Data Networks), limited electronic equipment, low
level of standardisation and interoperability
(Croatia-TNMN, Danube-AEWS, JAMS) are
common. In the ECOSIM project, technical
problems with the internet connections between
the three sites (Berlin, Athens and Gdansk) allowed
communication failures which influenced the
benchmarking of results of the models used.
High telecommunication costs influence negatively
the acceptance of internet information by the broad
public. Again these are not excuses for not making a
start, they are just matters to be tackled in an
organised manner. Creative thinking can exploit
infrastructures when deficiencies exist.
Finances and Investments
Deficiency of adequate finance has created
obstacles in many CEE projects (DANIS, IOZIP and
Croatia-TNMN). In the DANIS project, irregularity
in financial sources caused some gaps,mainly in the
regular updating process of the data.
Maintenance and operational cost of the system
provided, e.g. public kiosks in the TEMSIS project,
should have been supported by the public
authorities which should also have adequate finance
to sustain their input.EFFECT and EMMA have both
shown how a realistic development programme can
be resourced.
Expertise
In the REMSSBOT project, partners needed a
training course to learn how to use the software
programmes and environment set. Although the
software is very effective and suitable for the
project, it has introduced advanced concepts (e.g.
object oriented approach, CORBA) and has
developed languages never used before by the
partners.
Insufficient basic knowledge of the power of telematics tools greatly hampers an adequate use of them over wide parts of public administration. Inadequate training for the users of the system was also considered an important issue for many projects.
A major obstacle in the SNIRH project was finding staff with enough database management competence to manage large and complex database system on a day to day basis. This resulted in considerable effort in staff training and extended support by the development team.
All projects have shown the importance of gaining the commitment of suitable staff and that these persons will need ap p ropriate training as the projects develop, especially if they are to make a full contribution to its successful implementation and future maintenance.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
