Optimisation of government processes: spending less on bureaucracy and focusing on real challenges

At the beginning of the year, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a number of decisions aimed at large-scale implementation of optimisation of standard work processes in central executive bodies. This is a strategically important area of public administration reform, which involves systematic improvement of the organisation of government work by analysing and optimising processes.

The main goal of the initiative is to improve the efficiency of the state apparatus. This will reduce the time required to complete tasks, cut costs, simplify interaction, improve the quality of work results and focus resources on addressing the urgent needs of citizens and businesses. The optimisation of workflows will cover almost all central executive authorities, making them more efficient and transparent.

So, the work has begun: last week, state secretaries of ministries, heads and deputy heads, and chiefs of staff of central executive authorities attended a training course entitled “Analysis and Optimisation of Workflows in Government Bodies: Strategy for Effective Implementation”. The training programme covered the key practical components of implementing workflow analysis and optimisation: the basic elements of the LEAN methodology for finding and eliminating losses, and identifying potential for improvement.

Oleh Nemchinov, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, said: “Optimisation of government processes is a necessary step towards qualitative changes. It’s time to spend less resources on bureaucracy and pay more attention to the real challenges facing the state.”

To increase the efficiency of large-scale optimisation, the Government has prioritised standardised workflows. After all, most civil servants and resources of central executive authorities are involved in standard business processes. Standardised business processes have the greatest potential for large-scale optimisation, in particular through standardisation, by using and disseminating successful cases that have been and will be developed in executive authorities. The most resource-intensive processes of ministries include drafting regulations, strategic planning, monitoring and controlling the implementation of tasks, reviewing appeals and inquiries from citizens and MPs, etc. In other central executive bodies (services, agencies, inspectorates), a significant share of resources is spent on supporting the body’s activities (office work, accounting, staffing), all of which should be optimised to the maximum extent possible.

This work is being coordinated by the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, with the support of the European Union project “Support to Comprehensive Public Administration Reform in Ukraine” (EU4PAR) in cooperation with the Higher School of Public Administration, Lean Institute Ukraine and the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service.

Background

On 17 January 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 50 “Some Issues of Implementation of the Process Approach in Central Executive Bodies” and Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 39-p “On Optimisation of Typical Workflows in Central Executive Bodies” dated 17 January 2025.

Workflow optimisation is a set of measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the workflow by reducing costs, shortening the duration, increasing the effectiveness, quality and customer focus of its results, as well as establishing transparent rules and uniform standards.

LEAN methodology is a management approach aimed at eliminating inefficient processes, reducing costs and increasing productivity. It is actively used by the governments of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the EU to improve the quality of public services and reduce bureaucratic burden. In Ukraine, this methodology is currently widely used in the private and civil sectors.