Governance

life events

Prioritised user journeys around major citizen needs.

How the laws define this

All three frameworks agree that life events represent key citizen or business occurrences—such as parenting, employment shifts, or starting a business—used to integrate public services across agencies and focus on real user needs rather than institutional silos. Where they diverge is in how life events are operationalized. One Digital Public Sector: Digital strategy for the public sector 2019–2025 treats them as prioritized user journeys specifically designed to assign political ownership. The National Concept of Informatization of Public Administration (NKIVS) 2021 – 2026 presents them as an organizational principle to reduce service fragmentation and deliver coherent, end-to-end processes. Meanwhile, AuroraAI (National AI programme for human‑centric public services) frames them as citizen-centred use cases that explicitly structure data flows alongside service chains and user journeys within a national AI program.

Synthesised from the 3 statutory definitions below. Each one is quoted in full, with its source.

How jurisdictions differ

What is distinctive in each definition, binding law in force first.

Jurisdiction	Instrument	Status	What is distinctive
Finland	AuroraAI (National AI programme for human‑centric public services)	Adopted	Adds structuring service design, data flows, and user journeys specifically within the AI-leveraging AuroraAI approach.
Norway	One Digital Public Sector: Digital strategy for the public sector 2019–2025	Superseded	Adds assigning political ownership to prioritised life events to drive cross-agency integration.
Slovakia	National Concept of Informatization of Public Administration (NKIVS) 2021 – 2026	Superseded	Adds an organisational principle to enable integrated end-to-end processes and reduce fragmentation.

Definitions (3)

Life events are prioritised user journeys (such as having children, losing work, or starting a business) defined to drive cross‑agency service integration and design, assigning political ownership and focusing service development around real citizen and business needs.

One Digital Public Sector: Digital strategy for the public sector 2019–2025Definition 1 of 3

An organisational principle grouping services around key citizen or business events (e.g., birth, marriage, starting a business) to enable integrated, end‑to‑end processes, reduce fragmentation and present coherent service journeys across agencies.

National Concept of Informatization of Public Administration (NKIVS) 2021 – 2026Definition 2 of 3

A citizen‑centred use case (for example: becoming a parent, seeking employment, youth transitions) used to design and coordinate cross‑organizational service chains that align public services around real user needs rather than institutional silos. Life Events structure service design, data flows, and user journeys within the AuroraAI approach.

AuroraAI (National AI programme for human‑centric public services)Definition 3 of 3

Not to be confused with

persona-driven approach

Persona-driven approach targets representative user cohorts, while life events focus on specific major events or transitions like birth or unemployment.

digital public services

Digital public services refer to any electronically delivered public services, whereas life events group them around key citizen or business events.

Questions and answers

What are life events in Finland's AuroraAI programme?

In AuroraAI, life events are citizen-centred use cases like becoming a parent or seeking employment. They design and coordinate cross-organizational service chains. This aligns services around user needs using AI.

How does Norway's digital strategy use life events?

Norway's One Digital Public Sector strategy prioritises life events like having children or starting a business. It drives cross-agency service integration with political ownership. This focuses development on citizen needs.

What role do life events play in Slovakia's NKIVS?

Slovakia's NKIVS uses life events as an organisational principle grouping services around events like birth or marriage. This enables integrated end-to-end processes. It reduces fragmentation across agencies.