Using ICT tools for decision making support in local government units

Abstract

Decision making process is an everyday activity. However, special attention has to be payed when making decisions in public sector since those decisions result in long-term and costly consequences. Thus, ICT could improve the decision-making in public sector. The examples of ICT-supported decision making process in Croatian public sector are rare. The paper gives an overview of the successfully implemented ICT-supported decision making process in the Croatian local government units. The process was related to the project Ivanscica for better tomorrow which was supported by the European Commission. The aim of the project was to build the dialogue between the two local government units, City of Zlatar and City of Ivanec, in order to define strategic development activities for the mountain Ivanscica. Considering that the mountain is a part of two different local government units, when deciding about strategic directions and activities, it was decided to use ICT-supported AHP method. Calculations were made in both Excel and Expert Choice Trial. This application of ICT tools with multi criteria decision making method can also be a good starting point for new similar applications and possibly for the development of the methodology for decision making processes in government units.