The Service list is a catalogue of all services performed by Local Government in England and Scotland and Municipalities in Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Germany. The list gives a common understanding of services and is a result of collaboration during The Smart Cities Project 2009 - 2011. Each list can be seen individually by clicking on the drop down menu on the left hand side of the page. Lists are shown in English but can also be seen in the language of the chosen country by clicking on the flag when looking at an individual country's list . Where services are delivered by more than one country the service number and definition is standardised allowing for the exchange of information between countries by numerical ID regardless of language.
A service is a set of actions or activities undertaken by a council (or other public sector body) to deliver a product or conclusion. Services are usually provided at the request of a customer either as a one-off request (for example planning applications, parking permits) or as a result of the circumstances of the customer (for example local resident, local business, disabled). Services are provided by a public sector body either as a power (a legal right), a duty (a legal obligation) or at its discretion.
A service list provides a standard way of referring to each service when communicating within and between organisations. It uses unique numeric identifiers for each service, irrespective of the language and naming conventions that are used by different people and organisations to identify or describe services. The service list uses terminology that is recognised within the public sector but may not necessarily be understood by the customer. Other lists provide a customer facing view of services which can be used to provide information on services to the public (such as in a web site).
Use - to define a core set of tasks that are common to most public sector bodies, allowing communication across boundaries by describing the responsibilities unequivocally within a controlled list of terms.