At the European Telework Development Initiative website
ACTS Telework Chain (GAT: General Access - Telework)
Note for the attention of:
all participants in the ACTS Telework Chain
all participants in the ACTS Generic Applications Chain
This guidance note was issued by the European Commission on 4th September
1996.
Subject: The ACTS Telework Chain
1. The Chain Structure and Purpose
The ACTS telework chain is a forum for concertation, information exchange
and co-operation between independently financed and managed projects. Its
focus is the link between ACTS projects (and ACTS as a whole) and a positive
and balanced European approach to telework technologies, services, methods
and practices. Its specific interest is to ensure that investment in and
relating to telework is encouraged by the early resolution of issues and
uncertainties, based on consensus among the various constituencies.
The work done within the chain is owned by the participating projects and
the Commission; in the case of public reports, these will be publicised
by the Commission, with acknowledgements of the contributions of the participating
projects.
2. Roles and responsibilities
The activities of projects with respect to the chain are supported by the
Chairman of the chain and by a secretariat (provided by the ETD project).
The role of the Chairman is to prepare the agendas for chain meetings (in
consultation with the Commission) chair the chains meetings in a fair and
effective way, and to represent the chain at chain group and other concertation
activities.
The role of the secretariat is to record the proceedings and agreements
of the chain, to facilitate communications within the chain and with outside
communities of interest (to the extent that these may not be addressed by
projects), and to support the preparation and editing of guidelines.
Projects themselves are responsible for determining the nature and scale
of their contributions to the work of the chain.
Commission staffs assigned to work with and support the chain will provide
inputs to the chairman and participants. In particular they will assist
the chain to select and prioritise areas of focus for its work. Particularly
this will address linkage and synergy between the focus of a particular
chain and the overall work of chains within ACTS and in relation to other
policy, strategy and operational initiatives at European and International
levels.
3. Consensus and Guidelines in the ACTS/Telework Context
The Commission (DGXIII) is committed to distil out of the ACTS programme
a number of Guidelines in areas of broad policy interest, one of which is
telework. Where these require or could benefit from wider political endorsement,
the Commission has the unique responsibility to transmit them to the European
Council of Ministers and the European Parliament for consideration as formal
recommendations.
In most areas of development related to advanced communications, no groups
- even Governments - are in a position to impose guidelines solely on the
basis of expert opinion. A wide consensus is a pre-requisite for political
endorsement.
This is particularly true in the case of telework. An important role for
the ACTS chain is therefore to co-ordinate and consolidate the consensus
that can be reached in the different constituencies accessed by ACTS projects.
Broadly speaking, there are three:
- the technology development constituency represented, for example,
by the TECODIS and ONTHEMOVE project (mobile working), TEAM, AVANTI, BOURBON
and TECODIS (assessment of social impact), COVEN (virtual presence), DIVINE
(video-conferencing), MULTIMEDIATOR and DIANE (multimedia tools for co-operation),
MEDIAN, TOBASCO and IBCOBN (residential multi-media services), etc.
- the social/industrial and political constituencies accessed by the
DIPLOMAT, EPRI-WATCH and ETD projects; and
- the independent teleworkers and networked SMEs constituencies accessed
by the SMARTS and ETD projects.
This may be an over-simplification and there are differences between the
constituencies accessed by particular projects in different countries and
different sectors, but the importance of the chain is its ability to bring
together emerging consensus from all constituencies.
4. The Nature and Scope of Guidelines for Telework
The origin of Guidelines in ACTS is the Maastricht requirement (Chapter
12) to define schemas directeurs for trans-European investment stimulation.
The French term has more the meaning of planning guidance than the English
term guidelines, and reflects better the wish to reduce risks for private-sector
investors.
With this interpretation, Guidelines must be more than current good practice.
They must look forward to predicable future developments - perhaps with
an illustrative timetable - to identify when to invest, in what to invest
and how to protect current and future investments. A consensus on the pace
and nature of change reduces risks for all concerned.
It may seem strange to talk about telework in the context of investment:
but the introduction of telework in an organisation, in a local community
setting up a work centre, or by an individual entrepreneur, is an investment
in training, in re-organising the way things are done and managed, and in
equipment, networking, databases, etc.
Equally, the development of infrastructure and services for teleworkers
and employers requires investment by enterprises and entrepreneurs, as does
the development and marketing of future products and services.
Employers, teleworkers and the suppliers of infrastructure, products and
services will all be more inclined to make earlier investments if they perceive
that there is a strong consensus about values, purposes and issues, leading
for example to early provision of high performance, low cost telecommunications
in rural environments as well as in cities. They will be less inclined to
such investment if they perceive that there is great uncertainty about the
future European environment for telework - for example a continuing and
confused debate about the need for and nature of regulation, changes in
relevant taxation etc.
Adoption of telework is impeded by uncertainty about management, contractual,
regulatory, tax, insurance and other social/organisational matters. But
Guidelines on telework must be much more than the common elements of the
agreements between large employers and trade unions on part-time telework
for their employees. For example:
- Is there a consensus that can be reached with a wider constituency
of independent (self-employed) and small business managers on their responsibilities
for equipment and data security when they take on telework for other organisations?
- Is there a consensus around the rights and responsibilities of telework
centre managers - are they responsible for the health and safety of the
workers using their facilities, etc.?
- Is there a consensus between city administrations and major city-centre
employers on the effect of telecommuting in reducing congestion, leading
to early provision of alternative neighbourhood work facilities for telecommuters?
- Is there a consensus on how micro enterprises (including self employed
entrepreneurs) can be assisted in the use of telework for access to markets
and can be included in social and other protections?
Beyond these social/organisational issues, adoption of telework is also
impeded by uncertainties about technology development paths and infrastructure/service
deployment:
- Is there consensus about when interactive multi-media services will
be widely available and the relative roles of administrations, regulators
and suppliers in ensuring good access to such services for European citizens
at costs that are commensurate with those enjoyed in other world economies?
- At what time might employers expect access to be readily and cheaply
available from their employees homes? Or from suburban work centres? Is
there consensus on what can (and cant) be done over data-capable GSM? When
will UMTS facilities be widely available? What features in INTRANETS are
necessary for different types of telework (e.g. telework within corporate
organisations or telework between SMEs and micro enterprises)?
- Is there consensus about the issues associated with redefinition of
Universal Access as it affects teleworkers and the potential for creating
work opportunities in disadvantaged regions?
- What are the dependencies of teleworkers regarding interoperability
of networks, services and applications - not only with respect to technical
compatibility but including such matters as assured charging and payment
mechanisms, security and privacy, and common access to content across multiple
different services?
This isnt an exhaustive, or even structured table of contents for guidelines,
but it gives an indication of the potential scope.
5. Next Steps
The ACTS telework chain must become more a framework for co-operation, and
more attractive to a larger number of ACTS projects involved in technology
development and trials. Its vital that discussion about the overall goals
and process of the chain is converted to sharply focused effort to search
for and reach consensus on the issues most seriously affecting the current
and future environment for telework, and to prioritise this in the context
of the wider policy agendas on which telework already is achieving prominence.
One way to move forward as regards the process is to have a rotating chairmanship,
preferably with future chairmen identified well in advance enabling a troika
approach (immediate past chair, current chair and chair-designate), supported
by the secretariat, to ensure continuity.
To reinforce the participation of the technology development/trials interests,
it will be helpful if the next Chair can be someone clearly identified with
the mainstream of technology development and supply; and that efforts are
made to ensure that future volunteers for the chair represent a balance
of the various constituencies e.g. RTD, socio-economic; management and employment,
services supply, SMEs and self-employed etc. Early identification will secure
their involvement in building the success of the chain. The chain has considerable
advantages in the participation of a strong cross section of such constituencies
as well as in the availability of committed support resources (from the
ETD project).
For its part The Commission (DGXIII-B) is fully committed to providing all
possible support and assistance to help the Telework Chain to play a significant
role in the development of a positive and balanced European environment
for telework technologies, methods and practices through the Guidelines
approach to establishing consensus.
Looking forward to a productive future, together,
(signed)
Alessandro BARBAGLI
Maarten BOTTERMAN
Return to index of GAT ACTS Telework
Chain Guidelines
General information about the GAT ACTS Telework Chain
Page address http://www.eto.org.uk/gat/guides/guide1.htm
Last updated 4 January 1997