Son La province has been implementing the use of digital certificates and specialized digital signatures for operations within its state administrative agencies since 2017. To date, the number of active specialized digital certificates is 6,632, including 5,503 individual digital certificates.(with 4,837 Token devices, 490 SIM-PKI devices, and 176 centralized digital certificates)1,129 digital certificates issued to organizations. State agencies in the province have basically met the conditions for using digital signatures in handling their work.

The Government Cipher Committee inspected and evaluated the situation of applying specialized digital signatures for official use in Son La province in 2024.

The document management and administration system of Son La province has been integrated with a specialized digital signature tool for official use.(VGCA Sign Service)The entire process of drafting, processing, approving, digitally signing, and issuing documents is carried out directly on the software. The Department of Information and Communications has instructed document clerks in agencies and units to use the tool to check the legality of incoming documents, ensuring that only documents in accordance with regulations are received and processed.

The Son La Provincial Administrative Procedure Information System has integrated digital signatures to facilitate the use of online public services by citizens and the handling of administrative procedures by state agencies. Specifically, the Department of Information and Communications has compiled and registered the demand for specialized digital certificates to be used in the Reception and Results Delivery Departments at all levels within the province.(with 962 individuals at 235 one-stop service centers).

To date, leaders of departments, agencies, and localities, as well as the majority of civil servants at the one-stop service centers at all levels, have been issued specialized digital certificates to facilitate the verification of documents submitted by organizations and individuals that have not yet been digitally signed, and to digitize the results of administrative procedures for those that have not been digitally signed or for procedures of a specific nature (such as issuing driver's licenses, medical practice certificates, etc.).

Mr. Pham Quoc Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications, said: Every year, the Department coordinates with relevant departments and agencies to organize training courses on digital transformation, administrative reform, and document management and archiving. These courses cover topics from basic to advanced levels, suitable for officials and civil servants on the use of specialized digital signatures in official duties. For the province's shared information systems that integrate specialized digital signatures for official duties, whenever there are updates or changes to related functions to use digital signatures, the Department of Information and Communications requires the service provider to conduct training and guidance for users.

Leaders of the Department of Education and Training use specialized digital signatures.

Mr. Quang Van Lam, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training, informed: The use of specialized digital signatures has facilitated the department's leadership in handling work, especially during meetings and business trips, contributing to saving time and stationery costs. At the same time, digitally signed documents are sent quickly to relevant departments, agencies, and units, contributing to increased productivity and efficiency. To date, the level of digitalization in handling professional work at the department has significantly improved; the processing of incoming and outgoing documents, drafting, signing, and issuing documents are all done online, contributing to increased work efficiency.

In Yen Chau district, agencies, units, and the People's Committees of communes and towns have been issued 605 specialized digital signatures. The reception and results delivery departments at the district and commune levels have been issued 80 digital transaction signatures for civil servants and officials to use for authentication when receiving and delivering results of administrative procedures and documents.

Mr. Pham Duc Long, Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, informed: From 2022 to the present, the District People's Committee has coordinated with the Son La Information Technology and Telecommunications Center to organize three training conferences, guiding the use of digital certificates and specialized signatures on document management software, online payment, and storage in the electronic data warehouse on the one-stop software. The promotion of using digital signatures in electronic transactions is gradually replacing traditional transactions, ensuring information security and confidentiality in the online environment.

Safe usage, promoting digital transformation.

In summary, the rate of agencies and units applying digital signatures in electronic document exchange (excluding confidential documents) has reached 100%. Documents that are required to be exchanged entirely electronically are digitally signed directly by authorized individuals and organizations, with the percentage of digitally signed documents showing a significant increase year by year, from 30% in 2017 to over 99.5% in 2024.,This contributes to improving the efficiency of document processing, significantly reducing the time spent sending and receiving documents between agencies and units; changing the working style and methods from handling work based on paper documents to handling work in an electronic environment anytime, anywhere…

The benefits of application The use of digital signatures for official purposes is significant, but alongside the positive results achieved, the process of using digital signatures for official purposes faces many difficulties. Errors sometimes occur, and civil servants, often unfamiliar with them, are confused and unsure how to handle them due to the limited IT skills of some commune-level officials. This hinders the application of digital signatures in their work. The process of requesting renewal, replacement, or re-issuance of digital signatures is also hampered when subscribers change job positions, work agencies, or experience equipment malfunctions; in some cases, even after submitting a request for a new digital signature via paper documents, no response is received explaining why the request was not approved.

Support for users of specialized digital signatures on treasury, tax, and insurance systems is limited, so some agencies and units still use both types of signatures simultaneously for some transactions with the treasury, tax, and insurance sectors. This is because the public digital signature service provider is a business with a customer service department, so it can provide support immediately upon request from users.

To address these difficulties and obstacles, during a recent meeting with the Government Cipher Committee, Son La province proposed that the Committee provide solutions, guidance, transfer, and decentralization to the Son La Provincial Department of Information and Communications to handle authentication requests related to renewal, information changes, and restoration of digital certificate devices; and to grant additional rights and functions for searching digital certificate information to the administrator accounts of directly managing agencies on the digital signature authentication request registration and management system.

Assigning a focal point to be responsible for supporting Son La province in fulfilling authentication requirements, assisting with difficulties and obstacles in the process of using digital signatures in the locality; supporting units in resolving procedures related to the issuance, cancellation, unlocking, etc., of digital certificates.

The Government Cipher Committee and the Department of Information and Communications inspected the use of digital signatures at the Son La Provincial Public Administration Center.

Currently, Son La province is continuing to implement the registration and issuance of digital certificates for civil servants performing professional duties in departments, agencies, and localities, as well as for officials in the health and education sectors. The goal is for 100% of officials and civil servants to use specialized digital certificates in their official duties (signing documents related to official activities, etc.). Therefore, the demand for digital signature certificates in the province will increase significantly in the coming time, especially focusing on officials in the health and education sectors (approximately 25,065 people).

The effective use of specialized digital signatures creates a modern, transparent working environment, reduces paperwork, saves time and costs; and contributes to improving the quality and efficiency of public service delivery and management and operation at agencies and units. This is considered a crucial "key" to accelerating the digital transformation process in the province.

 Duy Tung