Since some databases contained personal data, we had to consider GDPR and to design Impact assessment of privacy for Informational Commissioner to get approval for launching the project. In second step we had to mask and anonymise personal data properly. This was a challenge and it was done under strict security conditions with external partner in a close involvement of the employees - owners of data sources. Big challenge was the adequate interpretation and validation of mid-results and close collaboration of all involved parties: data owners, technicians (i.e., data scientists) and IT experts. Data owners were crucial part of the pilot working close with data scientists; this was challenge, but also a success factor of the project.

This pilot project confirmed that using big data tools could provide an effective and solid basis for predicting process, planning policies and decision-making process on all managerial levels in public administration based on existing internal data sources combined with open data. Gained experiences showed that big data analytics could help to improve the efficiency of the Ministry of Public Administration as basis for decision making by using different statistical and quantitative analysis.

Based on results and lessons learned from big data pilot, MPA realised that we should strengthen awareness on digital knowledge and to develop digital skills. Therefore, the first conference on Big Data Tools was performed in spring 2017 and since autumn 2017 also, new training program has been running by Ministry of Public Administration Administrative Academy in collaboration with experts University of Ljubljana and University of Maribor. The training program consists from different modules adopted for different focus groups such as managers, analysis and IT experts with different levels of complexity and as follows:

• Data science for beginners,
• Business Intelligence,
• Introduction to text mining,
• From questionnaires to content for decision-making,
• Protection of personal data and open data.

The public employees are very interested in the program, in six months (until now) our Administration Academy has performed over 15 workshops and over 150 participants have been trained in the field of data analytics.

In the Ministry of Public Administration, the project group consisted of 23 people - governmental officials were involved deriving from different parts of MPA: Secretariat, HR services, Financial services, Directorate for Public Sector, Public Procurement Directorate and IT Directorate. There were different profiles of the people on different levels collaborating in the project, both managers and professionals. From EMC Dell 5 experts participated.

Both parties in the project – MPA and EMC Dell participated in a project on their own expenses. From EMC Dell 5 experts participated. The EMC provided their knowledge on data science, MPA provided data, knowledge about data interpretation and both parties had win-win situation which enabled learning and gaining experiences. For MPA experiences with emerging technology and its benefits, for EMC Dell experience to work with governmental administration in the field of governmental HR, real estate management and public procurement.

This partnership changed the way the Ministry approaches public governance, as we gained knowledge what tools big data could bring. We shifted towards using more complex, sophisticated tools as our modus operandi. This pilot confirmed using big data tools could provide benefits supporting prediction, planning and decision-making process. Based on gained experiences we decided to launch project for implementation of business intelligence and data warehouse to support data based decision making for repetitive reports. To raise awareness training program by MPA Administrative Academy in collaboration with experts University of Ljubljana and University of Maribor was launched. Beside we are developing big data infrastructure as a sand box to enable testing in this field. We believe personal data security in terms of GDPR is one of the fundamental rights. On the other hand, using big data tools brings other undefined issues related to personal data security. It seems to be a gap in-between which we believe will be resolved in the next few years in sense of development and support of usage emerging technologies in public administration where we deal with great amount of personal data.

Since we used emerging technology - big data tools, in the beginning of the project some of data sources were sceptic about the project. They meant that this should be done by informatics. By the time when they were strongly involved in the interpretation and validation of their own data, they changed their minds, they saw their crucial role and were very satisfied with the outcome of the project. Data owners were crucial part of the pilot working close with data scientists and interpreting gained results; this was challenge, but also a success factor of the project.

There are multiple conditions needed for success of such kind of project. Firstly, strong leadership and promotion of the main goal of the project from the highest level in organisation. Secondly, developing awareness and communication with employees is of outmost importance. Thirdly, close collaboration of all involved parties is very important. Our project group consisted from people from different departments of MPA such as: Directorate for Public Sector, Directorate for Informatics, HR, Finance, Law and Directorate for Public Procurement. On the other hand, 5 experts from EMC Dell covered also different roles such as data scientists, data presenter, interpreter etc.

Based on experiences of big data pilot we realized that using big data tools could be successful used for research and providing new ideas. On the other hand our public administration needs tools which enable support for repetitive tasks which are used for decision making. Therefore, we launched project for business intelligence and data warehouse which is planned to be horizontal service for all governmental agencies by 2023.

We continue to develop big data infrastructure as a sandbox for further testing activities on our governmental cloud. We share our knowledge and experiences within Slovenian governmental agencies and wider on several international events.

Furthermore, we will continue with training programme on data analytics within MPA Administrative Academy in collaboration with University of Ljubljana and Maribor.

Data security was very important part of this pilot project, especially from the point of view related to personal data and GDPR. We followed our national legislation in the field of personal data security and directions which we got from our Information Commissioner on anonymization and data masking.

In the phase of data preparation and processing is very important factor development of trust among employees: IT experts and “non-IT people” – internal users which have to understand each other, develop common language and learn to listen each other to be able to work together for the common goal. Therefore, also good communication, “speaking the same language” among employees within (and outside) the project is of outmost importance. We realized that close collaboration of all involved parties is very important for success of this kind of activities. Our project group consisted from people from different departments of MPA, people who usually do not work together, therefore establishing trust and open atmosphere among them was of crucial importance.

At beginning of the project some data source owners did not see their role in the project, they thought IT people should deal with the data without their participation. They were not aware of their knowledge of the content of the data which is an important part of this process. In later phases of the project when they were actively included in data preparation and interpretation they realized the benefits of this tools on one side and the value of their knowledge on the other side.