Data, tools and approaches to evidence based governance
There are many ways that influence the simulated object (health, education, road quality and etc.). Examples of ways for health sector could be buying a tool for diagnosis of diseases, building hospital, closing hospital and etc. Each way has its costs and could be evaluated by indicator of usefulness. Formalized model of simulation might require to fill the table of size 3×n, with 3 rows and n columns (each column for possible measure). That is illustrated by table 1. Table 1 An example of measures and indicators Name of characteristic
Choices 1
2
…
i
…
n
Set of ways for improving selected sector {Mi}
M1
M2
…
Mi
…
Mn
Set of indicator of usefulness {ki}
k1
k2
…
ki
…
kn
Set of costs {Ci}
C1
C2
…
Ci
…
Cn
Approximate estimates of the indicators could be provided by the subject matter experts. The estimates are not constant, but such variations can be ignored in the model meant for educational purposes only. The game would show the student the importance of distributing the finite resources efficiently. 3
CASE OF ROAD MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
The level of regional development depends on infrastructure of that region. Quality of roads impacts development of other sectors of region. It influences regional development. For example the best indicator of roads quality among 142 countries is France’s, Singapore’s (6.5) [15]. Quality of Lithuanian roads is given the index of 5.2 (32 place among 142 countries) [15]. However, Lithuanian Global Competitiveness index gets 45th place. Thus, it would seem that, to achieve a balanced development, roads should be less of a priority. Likewise, in the game the main task is to find the road quality that would correspond to the development of other areas. The level of evenness is the main indicator which shows quality of roads network. Summarising everything it is clear that roads management politics should be based on economical evaluation. To use the state’s (or regional) funds dedicated for road maintenance effectively, road maintenance management system (RMMS) is used [6,7]. It allows organization of road maintenance in the way that would minimize the expenses of society consisting of maintenance expenses (sum of road maintenance works and material expenses) and user expenses (for fuel, accidents, car repair etc.). The problem of road maintenance is considered to be a strategic task of the state, as it requires lots of budget funds. The roads are classified into several groups by importance with more attention given to the roads of higher importance. Road quality influences the losses of the road users, time passed in travel and road accident rate. Because of that it is important to assure enough funds for road maintenance and their efficient use. It is important to have ways to manage the situation. | 42