The National Dataset Project (NDP) has been undertaken by the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO). A task force from the organisation is working hard to complete its implementation, under the umbrella of the e-government project, said CIO Under-Secretary Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatulla Al Khalifa.
"We are very proud that we are among the first Arab countries which have established an advanced database for the Population Registration," he told the GDN.
"When the new project is completed by the end of next year, we shall become the first Arab country and one of the first countries in the world to create One Dataset.
"This will contain, along with the Population Registration data, all the information related to any individual, addresses and establishments that are currently scattered all over the various government bodies."
Shaikh Ahmed said the decision to create a national Dataset emanated from the belief of the government in the importance to provide information and accurate and precise data to those who are required to make decisions in the kingdom.
"This will help them make the right choice in the right place and at the right time in order to plan properly the schedule of projects according to national priority," he added.
"At present, every Ministry and government body has its own set of databases which may be stored manually or as paper in files.
"Therefore, if we create databases individually then they will not meet the standards of quantity and quality of the information and will also not be updated on time when required since there is no internal network to link the applications and systems."
Shaikh Ahmed said there was no procedure now to update the files, which lie scattered in administration and different departments.
"The aim of the new project is to unify the database in order to collate the joint information and data of all the ministries in one file, which will be linked to the files of various ministries.
"It is also important to provide the necessary legal framework for security and privacy of the data." "Each government body will also be helped to have the proper procedures to record and update the data."
Shaikh Ahmed said this would lead to a visible improvement in services to the public.
"The citizens and residents in the kingdom will then be able to see the difference in the standard of government services provided," he noted.
"It will help eliminate all the bureaucracy and red tape and make transactions easier and quicker.
"People will not have to carry large amounts of documents around to carry out the transactions, since the data base will carry all the information updated which will save the state a lot of time and money."
Shaikh Ahmed said the CIO would conduct a labour survey early next year jointly with a committee from the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry.
"This is to make available accurate data on the workforce and employment in the kingdom at any time and place immediately at the touch of a button," he revealed.
" A sample has already been taken and checked against different ministries' data.
"It is clear to us after an initial comparison of the information from various government bodies that some of those registered as unemployed are either students or employees in other government ministries or bodies, or even the private sector, or are owners of commercial registrations."
Quelle: Gulf Daily News
