Cyber-Attacke auf Potsdam. Nach einem hacker-Angriff sind viele Online-Dienste der Stadtverwaltung offline.

The Berlin Senate wants to make much faster progress than before in standardizing the state’s own computer systems. By 2026, 15,000 computers in Senate administrations, districts and state authorities are to be standardized, said State Secretary Ralf Kleindiek (SPD), who is responsible for digitizing the administration, on Tuesday.

By 2029, the number is expected to increase to 45,000 computers. This would centralize a little more than half of all PC workstations in the Berlin administration. For comparison: According to Kleindiek, between 2018 and 2022 only 3,000 computers were centralized.

Digital policy, regulation, artificial intelligence: the briefing on digitization

Kleindiek, who initiated the self-commitment of Senate administrations, districts and state offices and obtained the last co-signatures shortly before the Senate dealt with the bill, spoke of a “good day for digital Berlin”.

For the first time, the Senate made a binding decision “on how IT should be centralized and modernized.” The currently prevailing “IT proliferation” will be eliminated in this way and a uniform and secure infrastructure created, explained Kleindiek. He added: “Centralization is a prerequisite for improving online services for citizens.”

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Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) also announced that she would like to gradually solve the problem of missing appointments with the Citizens’ Registration Office. First of all, it is important to provide those citizens with appointments within 14 days who also need them.

According to a survey, the proportion is 60 percent of all appointment requests. Once that percentage is reached, Giffey said the goal of making appointments available across the board within two weeks could be envisaged. Around 40 percent of all appointment requests are currently realized within two weeks.