12 Belgian communes (French and Dutch speaking) and 2 French Mairies participate in the CommunesPlone project. In doing so, they aim to gain independence from IT services providers by developing, essentially by themselves and in a cooperative manner, applications and websites for their own use as well as for their citizens’. CommunesPlones strategy mainly rests on two renowned multiplatform Open Source tools:  Zope  and Plone.

Zope, the application server, includes basic modules such as access management and security, as well as a workflow system, a web server, a database, etc. For the needs of his own project, a developer using Zope can utilise pre-developed modules that have been proofed by numerous users throughout the world. Plone is a content management system which allows people with no or limited technical knowledge to provide with content a tool interfaced in web mode, enabling them, for instance, to update the content of a website.  

Apart from a greater independence from IT service providers, CommunesPlone’s expected benefits are: to enhance the applications’ consistency with the users’ needs; to promote collaborative websites (managed by communal services, associations and businesses); to promote both the independence and the proficiency of the Communes’ internal IT staff; to use the most recent technologies while avoiding licence fees; to ensure publication of sources with General Public License (GPL).

Until now, CommunesPlone has generated concrete and usable tools such as a module to order administrative documents on the Internet, a business directory and Communal websites (e.g www.seneffe.be). Other tools are being currently developed including a certification module (through the eID card) and a documentary management tool. CommunesPlone is supported by the Union of (Walloon) Cities and Municipalities, which takes actively part in development.

Source : IDABC

Open Source News – 13 June 2006 – Belgium – Policies and Announcements

http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/5617/469

© European Communities 2006