Asiointipolusta

Asiointipolusta, or asiointipolku, is a concept in Finnish public administration that describes the service path a citizen or business follows when using public authorities and their services. It maps the user’s journey from first contact to service completion, emphasizing user experience, information needs, and channel choices. The aim is to create a smooth, predictable process across digital and traditional channels.

In practice, asiointipolusta guides service design and development. Public authorities map the steps, identify required information and forms, determine where data can be prefilled from registers, and specify authentication and authorization needs. The goal is to minimize unnecessary steps, reduce duplicate requests, and ensure accessibility and clarity for diverse users. The asiointipolusta often spans multiple authorities and service channels, including online portals, phone service, and in-person offices, and it considers transitions between these channels.

Typical components include the starting point or entry to the service, user authentication, service selection, data collection and prefill, submission, processing and decision, and notification or delivery of results. It emphasizes privacy and data protection, and supports interoperability via national systems and architectures such as Suomi.fi services, electronic identification, and data-exchange frameworks as applicable.

Impact and governance: It is used as a design and governance tool in e-government projects to improve service quality and citizen satisfaction, align regulations and forms, and ensure consistent service experiences across authorities. It is part of ongoing modernization efforts in Finnish public administration toward more customer-oriented and accessible digital services.