Officials maintain that while modifying the older systems was considered, the ultimate decision was that building an entirely new, unified system would be the better option.

Currently, seven different document management systems are in use across Estonian state institutions, the most widely used being the open-source systems Delta and A-Dok.

Within the next year, a new centralized system is expected to be operational for most of these institutions.

The idea of a new document management system has been under discussion for years, but significant progress began three years ago when ministry chancellors agreed on a direction and cost-sharing model.

One of the primary objectives of the new system was cost reduction.

Government justifies new system as cost-efficient and state-of-the-art

When asked why cost-saving efforts require the development of a completely new system instead of modifying an existing one, Marti Lung, deputy director general of the Ministry of the Interior's IT and Development Center (SMIT), said that Delta, the most commonly used system, has become largely outdated.

Lung said: "We have created numerous instances of Delta to provide the service to different institutions."

"However, when we analyzed how Delta's document management functions, we concluded that we could reduce the number of instances, thereby lowering maintenance and hosting costs. This would also reduce complexity," he went on.

"Currently, officials exchange documents between different document management systems via email, and someone on both sides has to enter the document into the system. A unified system would eliminate these barriers within ministries and beyond," the official added.

However, according to Lung, the decision to develop a new system instead of modifying Delta was not just a case of finding a unified solution and saving money on hosting.

"Delta is 15 years old and contains components that are not integrable or interoperable by today's standards. With the new solution, document management is designed to be modular, incorporating different functions such as signing, stamping, approval rounds, and classic document processing," Lung said.

Both Delta modifications and commercial solutions were considered, including an analysis of A-Dok, but this option was abandoned too.

"Taking all factors into account, the ministry proposed starting fresh," Lung stated.

The State Shared Services Center (RTK) has confirmed that before reaching the decision to build a new document management system, the various alternatives were analyzed.

Madle Mereste, the RTK's head of communications, said: "The goal is to build a system that aligns with modern architectural solutions, has cloud capability, and is not dependent on licenses."

Critics argue existing systems could have been adapted at a fraction of cost

However, Targo Tennisberg, a software developer behind the A-Dok system, said modifying that system would have been much cheaper.

He pointed out that A-Dok already includes recent upgrades, such as speech recognition and external user access.

A-Dok is open-source, the state owns its source code, and modifying it would not require licensing fees, he said.

He also argued that A-Dok does not have the "many instances" issue, as the system is shareable across institutions.

He said that in summer 2023, he told RTK and SMIT that adapting A-Dok to the new requirements would cost around €400,000.

Tennisberg added that no real analysis was conducted comparing the alternatives, however.

Ministry of Defense opts out, citing security concerns

One state organ that will not be adopting the planned new system is the Ministry of Defense, on the grounds that the new system does not support classified information to the extent needed.

Other institutions handling sensitive data will also need separate document management systems in any case.

Despite the concerns, the government plans to roll out the new system next year for most other ministries, for the courts, prisons, state-run schools, and some other institutions.