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Industries · Public Sector · Municipalities & Municipal Enterprises

Public administration rarely struggles with technology. Usually with paper.

In many municipalities, authorities and municipal enterprises, digitalization does not fail for lack of systems but because of the processes between the systems: the form that is filled in and typed up later, the spreadsheet used for the analysis, the folder that turns into a report at the end of the year. Those are exactly the gaps we close – with lean web applications that external people can operate without training. We have delivered a project of this kind; it is described in full further down.

See the real project example Discuss a process

One delivered project

For a municipal enterprise we moved the course and attendance capture of a summer sports programme from paper to a web application – including AI-assisted digitization of the previous season.

Small, not a platform

A clearly bounded process does not need a platform. We build the slice that removes the most pain – with running costs modest enough to fit the budget of a municipal enterprise.

External people built in

Instructors, contractors, clubs, subcontractors: the most important data is often created by people with no access to the internal system. We build for them first.

In short

Who this is for: municipalities and public authorities, municipal enterprises and companies, special-purpose associations, sports facility and events operators, municipal pools and cultural institutions.
Typical trigger: a process captured on paper every day that has to produce proof toward a third party at the end – sponsors, funding bodies, oversight, the council.
What we build: web applications for capture and analysis, access for external contractors, facility and course scheduling, reporting and proof at the click of a button, AI-assisted import of legacy paper records.
What we are not: a vendor of certified statutory case management systems, and not a partner for large formal procurement processes with extensive reference requirements. We are small and we say so early.

01 — Starting point

Where public administration really loses time today.

Not in the big statutory systems – those mostly work. It is in the processes beside them, the ones nobody ever procured software for because they are “just a form”.

The form that gets handled twice

Captured on paper on site, typed up in the office. Two steps for one piece of information – plus the transcription errors that creep in and the follow-up queries they cause.

Analysis only at the end of the season

As long as the numbers sit in a folder, there is no interim figure. Anyone who wants to know in July how a programme is going gets a feeling instead of a number – and still has to decide.

Proof toward third parties

Sponsors, funding bodies, supervisory boards or the council want evidenced numbers. The data exists – but in a form no report can be pulled from without someone spending two days on the arithmetic.

External people with no system access

Contracted service providers, instructors, clubs or trades businesses produce the actual data. They cannot get onto the internal network – so they get a form, and the administration gets paper back.

Excel as the unofficial case system

For processes no statutory system covers, a spreadsheet appears. It grows, it gets passed around, and eventually a whole programme depends on a file one person understands.

Digitalization without a deletion list

A form gets digitized that nobody has analysed for years. Afterwards the redundant process is digital, faster and still redundant – only now with a maintenance contract.

02 — A real project example

The summer sports programme of a municipal enterprise.

Anonymized, because we do not name clients who have not approved it – but otherwise exactly as it happened.

A municipal enterprise runs a series of free outdoor sports classes over the summer. The programme is funded by sponsors – banks and insurers. That is where the actual requirement comes from, and it is not a technical one: the enterprise has to be able to prove to its sponsors how the classes are going and how many people actually attend. Without that proof, the programme becomes harder to fund the following year.

How it worked before

The classes are run by external instructors – in this case by a contracted fitness studio. Capture was entirely on paper: a form had to be filled in for every single class and every day. The forms travelled to the enterprise in batches and were eventually added up there. A reliable interim figure during the running season was effectively impossible to get, and every query from a sponsor meant manual work.

What we built

A modern web application, deliberately narrow in scope. The external instructors get their own access and record a class in a few seconds right after the session: attendance, how the class went, what the weather was. Nothing more is asked. Every additional mandatory field would have turned capture back into a burden – and capture that feels like a burden does not get filled in. That is the point at which most digitalization projects fail in practice, and it is not a technical one.

On the other side, the staff of the municipal enterprise see every day who attended which class in what weather – without chasing anyone, without a folder of forms. The weather field is not decoration: it explains the downward outliers, and a sponsor who can be shown a rainy Tuesday does not question the programme.

The part that would not have been economical without AI

We digitized the previous season's paper forms with AI and imported them straight into the new system. The application therefore did not start from zero but with comparison figures from the year before. The first sponsor meeting after go-live could show a trend rather than a beginning – a considerable difference in a conversation about funding the next season. Manual re-entry would have been out of all proportion to the benefit; with AI it was a manageable step.

Why the project stayed small

A lean modern stack, AI-assisted delivery, a short build, manageable running costs. There was no reason to build a platform for a clearly bounded process, to design a roles and permissions model for twelve user groups, or to start a procurement procedure. The value is created by the person standing on the sports field after the class with thirty seconds to spare – everything else is decoration.

Sector

Public sector – a municipal enterprise, sports facilities and events

Before

A daily paper form per class, filled in by external instructors; analysis only after the season ended

Users

External instructors from a contracted fitness studio, plus staff of the municipal enterprise

Result

Web application with instructor access, daily internal reporting, sponsor proof at the click of a button

AI element

AI-assisted delivery; in addition, the previous season's paper forms digitized with AI and imported

Why it works

Three fields per class, no training needed, capture in seconds – acceptance before feature set

03 — User stories

What we build for municipalities and municipal enterprises.

Concrete use cases as they occur in municipalities, municipal enterprises and public companies. The first one has been delivered – the others describe what we build on the same foundation.

“As an instructor, I want to record my class in 30 seconds.”

One access for external people, three fields, done – from a phone at the sports field. No VPN, no training, no paper. This exact case has been delivered and is in operation.

See the project example

“As a case officer, I want the sponsor proof at the click of a button.”

Reporting by period, class, location and attendance – as a number, not as a folder. The report that used to take two days of arithmetic appears when you click.

“As management, I want to see which programme is working – while it is running.”

A daily and weekly picture instead of an annual report. If you see in July that one location stays empty, you can change course in July rather than in the next budget year.

“As a resident, I want to book a class or a hall online.”

Availability, booking and confirmation without a phone call and without an email chain. The application knows the capacities and blocks double bookings by itself.

Sports & Clubs

“As an authority, I want an application form that does not end as a PDF.”

A guided online journey instead of a fillable PDF that gets printed, signed, scanned and typed up again. With a status view for the applicant.

Administration & Back Office

“As an administration, I do not want to re-key legacy records by hand.”

Paper forms, lists and records from previous years are read and imported with AI support – so the new application starts with history rather than from zero.

AI Automation

04 — Approach

The deletion list first, the software second.

In the public sector this step is especially valuable, because processes there are rarely abolished and usually only added to. We first ask what can be dropped entirely – and only then what gets built.

Current-state analysis on the real process – We look at how a process actually runs: who fills in the form, who reads it, where things get typed up twice, and which field nobody has analysed for years. Not how the official procedure describes it.
Start from the reporting obligation – We work backwards: what has to be evidenced to whom at the end? Anything that contributes nothing to that proof is a candidate for the deletion list – and anything it needs has to be captured.
Capture belongs to the external people – When the data is created by contractors or volunteers, we build for their working day: phone instead of desktop, three fields instead of twelve, access without an IT ticket. Otherwise it stays on paper, however good the reporting is.
Start small, in real operation – One slice, one season, one programme. What holds gets extended. What does not hold has cost little – and with public money that is not a side note.
Running costs on the table beforehand – What the application costs to run, we say before we build. A solution that becomes a problem in the next budget is not a solution.
No dependency on us – Code, repository and access are in your name. Another provider can take over – with public clients that is not a nice-to-have but regularly a condition.

Typical scope

One process, two user groups (capture outside, analysis inside), one piece of proof for the outside world

Technology

Web application, usable in the browser and on a phone – extended with a mobile app where needed

Data protection

Hosting in the EU, a data processing agreement, data minimization as a design principle – see also GDPR-compliant delivery

Accessibility

Public bodies are subject to their own digital accessibility requirements; we build accordingly – see accessible delivery

05 — Honest assessment

When we are a fit for you – and when we are not.

The public sector is the area where we most clearly have to say where our limit lies. So we do it here.

We fit when …

These projects are exactly our shape – quick to deliver, manageable to run, immediately noticeable.

a clearly bounded process runs on paper or in Excel today.
external people create the data and have no access to the internal system.
proof is needed toward sponsors, funding bodies or committees.
a municipal enterprise or public company can commission the work independently.
you need someone who says which part of the plan is redundant before quoting for it.
legacy paper records are to be imported without anyone typing for months.

We do not fit when …

Then the right recommendation is not to work with us. We give it in the first conversation.

you need a certified statutory case management system that already exists on the market – for civil registration, municipal treasury or vital records, for example.
an EU-wide procurement procedure with extensive reference and turnover requirements is coming up. As a small team we regularly fail the suitability check there.
integration is needed with a statutory system whose vendor provides no open interface – then the bottleneck sits outside our reach.
you need a framework contract with guaranteed round-the-clock availability.
the project requires several parallel teams and staff functions.

06 — FAQ

Common questions from municipalities and municipal enterprises.

Have you worked for the public sector before?

Yes. For a municipal enterprise we moved the course and attendance capture of a sponsor-funded summer sports programme from paper to a web application. External instructors have recorded their class from a phone in seconds ever since; the enterprise sees the reporting daily and can produce the proof for its sponsors at the click of a button. We also digitized the previous season's paper forms with AI and imported them. We do not name the municipality, because we have no approval to do so.

Can you integrate with our statutory case system?

If the system provides an interface: yes, that is routine. If it does not, the bottleneck sits with the vendor and not with us – we clarify that before the project starts and say honestly whether a sensible solution remains. Often the better route is to put the process in front of the statutory system anyway: capture and analysis outside, an orderly handover inside.

What about data protection and hosting?

Hosting in the EU, a data processing agreement, and data minimization from the design stage: we capture the fields the proof requires – and none beyond that. In the project described above that is three fields per class. No personal data about participants was needed at all, which makes the whole process considerably easier in data protection terms.

Does something like this have to go out to tender?

Your procurement rules decide that, not us – depending on contract value, legal form and internal regulations. Many projects of this size sit below the thresholds for formal procedures at municipal enterprises and public companies. For EU-wide procedures with extensive suitability requirements we are usually not a suitable bidder as a small team, and we say so in advance.

What about digital accessibility?

Public bodies are subject to their own requirements for the accessibility of their digital services. We build accordingly – semantic HTML, keyboard operation, sufficient contrast, meaningful labels – and agree the specific scope of testing in advance. Where a formal audit or declaration is required, we say what we deliver and what your organization has to contribute.

What happens to our legacy paper records?

In many cases they can be read and imported with AI support. This is one of the cases where AI genuinely carries: a stack of similar forms from several years is captured in structured form, checked and imported. The effort is out of all proportion to manual re-entry – and the new application starts with comparison figures rather than from zero.

What does it cost to run per year?

We say that before we build, not afterwards. For a narrowly scoped process with a manageable number of users, the running costs are small enough to disappear into a normal operating budget. We name the figure in advance, because a solution that becomes a problem in the next budget is not a solution.

Who owns the application in the end?

You do. Code, repository, hosting accounts and access are in your name or transferred to it. Another provider can take over at any time. With public clients that is regularly a condition anyway – we handle it that way everywhere.

Which form gets handled twice at your organization?

Describe the process briefly and say who has to be shown proof at the end. You get a first assessment – including one that says the effort is not worth it.

Discuss a process

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