UK council makes most of SMS: A district council in Suffolk, England, is using text messaging to improve communication with citizens and to reduce costs. Babergh District Council in Hadleigh is using software firm Avanquest's 'Text Message Server' to issue notices and reminders that would normally be sent out by post. Among the uses it has found for the SMS service are reminders to pay council tax, the booking of building inspection appointments, and the delivery of local election results to members of the press. As well as providing more flexible ways of communicating, the council says it's also saving time and money by using the service. "The potential for numerous worker hours saved is enormous, coupled with money savings: the cost of a second class stamp is STG0.24, a text charge is STG0.06," said Bob Southgate, Babergh's head of customer services. The local authority also plans to use the SMS service to speed up its response to littering by enabling its 'litter champion' staff to report fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles and graffiti to the relevant council department via text message.
Iowa launches school alerts service: Iowa's Department of Administrative Services (DAS) has launched an application to instantly notify parents if their child's school cancels classes or closes early. The Iowa School Alerts program allows school principals in the US state to log on to a secure website where they can create a single message that is immediately e-mailed to anyone who has signed up to receive notifications. The service, which is free to use by schools and parents and any other interested parties such as school staff members or media outlets, was developed by the DAS in order to make it easier for parents to get information if a school decides to close suddenly due to bad weather or other unforeseen circumstances. The service can also send e-mails to PDAs or e-mail-enabled mobile phones and it is also available to web owners as an RSS feed.
EU explores pan-European e-identity scheme: A pilot project covering 13 European nations will test the interoperability of a number of electronic identity systems, reports ComputerWeekly.com. The STG14 million initiative, spearheaded by the UK's Identity and Passport Service (IPS), is aimed at exploring whether e-government services can be made accessible for citizens and businesses across the EU. "It is about the eventual pan-European recognition of electronic IDs," said a spokesman for the IPS. The three-year project will see researchers exploring current electronic gateways and trying to surmount technical and business process issues in order to provide cross-border e-government services. "It is only looking at existing programmes to examine what would be needed to establish secure systems for mutual recognition of national electronic identities," the IPS spokesman said. Europe will become more competitive and efficient if citizens are freer to travel, find work, access health services, buy property and register for schools, according to Roger Dean, executive director of EEMA, the European association for e-identity and security.
Bahrain procures e-tender system: The government of Bahrain has announced an e-tendering project designed to improve transparency and fairness in the procurement process, reports the MENAFN newswire. The project, which is due for completion in a few months, aims to integrate all government tenders into a single online system. The new system will provide a central electronic interface for government purchasing authorities, suppliers and the tender board, and it will automate many of the activities performed by these parties. One of the key benefits of the system, which is being provided by US-based software firm VARStreet, is that it will reduce administrative costs and improve the accuracy of orders. "The use of e-tendering in other parts of the world has already illustrated its ability to reduce administrative costs and processing time, as well as increasing the quality and transparency of decision making and reducing the number of complaints," said Minister Abdul Hussein Mirza, chairman of the Bahrain Tender Board.
Malta unveils ambitious e-gov plan: Malta plans to make all of its government services available online by 2010. Minister for Investments, Industry and IT Austin Gatt announced that 10 new services would be brought online by the end of this year, with "many more" to be rolled out next year. He also revealed that the government would form alliances with Maltese software providers in order to accelerate the delivery of online services. The minister was speaking at the launch of two new e-government services: an online death notification service and an online will search facility. The new systems aim to make it easier and faster for people to file a death notice and to look up a will. The online service will also mean that staff at the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs can process notifications more efficiently.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Sylvia Leatham
Quelle/Source: ElectricNews, 15.10.2007
