← The digital maturity reportExample: real data, slightly altered, and simulated data
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Digital maturity reportNicolae Urs · nicolaeurs.ro

Executive summary

City Hall of Municipality Xabout 25,000 inhabitantsassessment of October 2026

Digital maturity

42/100

Stage I of III: digital services, without the processes to sustain them

The digital services exist, but nobody maintains them and nobody measures them.

The city hall rose to 16th of 325 in 2023 and fell to 79th in 2026. The registry is almost fully digitised, but the institution does not know how many requests it receives online. Online payments have grown ninefold since 2019, yet 82% of payments are still made in cash.

Five dimensions, score out of 100

What citizens see · the website, 2026 index 60
What citizens use · payments, requests, appointments 34
What happens behind the scenes · systems and workflows 48
People · skills, roles, attitudes 41
Projects · strategy, funding, links 28

Grey line: the index average for towns of 10,000–40,000 inhabitants (50). There is no comparable average for the other dimensions.

What we found

−19

The website lost 19 points in three years. From 79.4 in 2023 to 60.2 in 2026. Participation fell from 80 to 33 and security from 100 to 67, the only category in which the city is now below the average for places of the same size (86).

82%

Online payment grew ninefold, but it is still the exception. Online payments rose from 270 in 2019 to 2,480 in 2025, or 12.4% of the total. The rest are made by bank transfer (5%) or in cash at the counter (82%).

98%

The documents are digitised; the data are not used. Since 2022, more than 98% of registered documents have an electronic copy attached, compared with 4% in 2019. Yet the city hall cannot say how many requests it receives online or through which channels: nobody counts them.

An example built on a real city’s data (the orase-digitale.ro index and the city hall’s reply to a freedom of information request), slightly altered so the city cannot be identified. The survey and the interviews are simulated. 1 / 2
City Hall of Municipality X · executive summaryDigital maturity report

The evidence

Website score, three measurements Municipality X · towns of 10,000–40,000 inhabitants (124)
52.9 79.4 · rank 16 60.2 · rank 79 38.8 53.1 49.8 2020 2023 2026
The five categories, in 2026 Municipality X · average of similar towns
Ergonomics Content Online services Participation Security 89 62 59 33 67 0 50 100
Online payments, as a share of all paymentsGhișeul.ro and the city’s own platform, 2019–2025
1.0% 12.4% 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Two services that took off
98% of registered documents have an electronic copy attached, since 2022. In 2019: 4%.
71% of 2025 weddings were booked online, a service introduced in 2021.

What people say · simulated data

Survey: 91 of 148 staff · share who agree
Digitalisation makes my work easier68%
I request the data I need by e-mail or on paper57%
I know who is responsible for the city hall website31%
I have had digital training in the past two years24%
Nine interviews: management and heads of department
  • Nobody owns the website; IT publishes on request.
  • Seven back-office applications; only two exchange data automatically.
  • IT has two people, busy with maintenance.
“Every department keeps its own records. When we need a number, we add it up by hand.” · head of department

What we recommend

Within 3 months

1. One person responsible for the website and digital services, with time set aside for it.

2. Security and participation back to their 2023 level.

Within 12 months

3. The registry records the channel of every request. The system already exists.

4. Payments, from the counter to online: 20% in 2027.

Within 24 months

5. Taxes, registry and civil status exchange data with each other.

6. A short digitalisation strategy, with five annual indicators.