The Potentials of Dynamic Platform Modelling in Public Administration

The objective of this paper is to show how system dynamics modelling can be applied to simulate the behavior of information communication technology based platforms to formulate and validate strategies or development policies of these platforms in the public sector. We show three typical yet very different public administration platforms; the Hungarian clientgate, an Italian Government-As-A-Platform example, and a Finnish mobility-as-a-service concept as illustrations. We then develop a general dynamic model based on classic two-sided market economics and extended management models, and theoretically show how cross-group and within-group externalities determine the behavior of platforms. Through the introduction of a conceptual system dynamics model we finally show how the behavior of public administration platforms can be simulated and what type of conclusions can be drawn from these models. Further research and practical implications are also shown by potential developments and refinements.