France launches public information hotline: The French government has launched a call centre to provide information for citizens on public services. The European Commission's eGovernment Observatory reports that citizens can get information on a wide range of public services and administrative procedures by calling a single telephone number. The call centre, dubbed "Allo Service Public", has a staff of 60 agents (80 during peak hours) and the capacity to handle 10,000 calls a day without leaving callers on hold. The service, which is free apart from the cost of the phone call, aims to respond to any citizen query in under three minutes. The government has also set a target for the service of fully answering 70 percent of questions, with the remainder being passed on to specialised inter-ministerial call centres. The centre took around 100,000 calls on the day of its launch, far exceeding capacity. "In one day we handled almost as many calls as in a year of regional pilots," said French State Secretary for State Reform Eric Woerth.
UK opens up Criminal Justice System: The UK's Home Office has launched a website aimed at providing a user-friendly guide to the Criminal Justice System for the general public. The CJS comprises agencies such as the Police, the Courts, the Prison Service, and the Crown Prosecution Service. The new site was launched to coincide with the government's Inside Justice Week, a series of events which aim to "open up" the CJS to the public. The site is divided into sections that are relevant to different categories of visitors to the site: victim, witness, defendant, offender and juror. Each section provides a "virtual walkthrough" of what people in each category can expect to happen. For example, the offender section offers an interactive tour of a prison and describes what daily life is like for prisoners. For witnesses, jurors and defendants, the tours include a guide to what happens in the courtroom, while the victims' section provides information on police procedures.
Hawaii launches Business Express service: The government of Hawaii has launched a one-stop registration service for new businesses. The Hawaii Business Express service -- available on the state's official website, www.eHawaii.gov -- allows business owners to register the details of their business with multiple federal and state agencies at the same time, reducing registration time from hours to just minutes. The user-friendly service leads filers through the process of applying for the state general excise tax licence, employee income tax withholding numbers, and unemployment insurance identification numbers. Hawaii Business Express also enables users to file articles of business registration and to register trade names. The website also offers real-time customer service: users can conduct a live online chat session with a customer service representative from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. "Hawaii Business Express is a major leap forward toward a more streamlined government, with better service and less paperwork for the benefit of Hawaii's new businesses," said Mark Recktenwald, director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
IBM aids open source development in India: IBM India has teamed up with a computer organisation and an institute of technology to work on the development of open source software in the region. The technology giant has signed an agreement with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Technology to set up the Open Source Software Resource Centre (OSSRC). The centre, which will receive USD1.2 million in funding over three years, will attempt to promote open source software through the establishment of a portal for exchanging information on the subject and through the development of proof-of-concept projects. C-DAC, a research and development unit of the Indian government, will provide the infrastructure, Indian-language technologies and open source application frameworks for the centre, while Big Blue will provide hardware, software and project management resources. The Indian Institute of Technology will focus on developing teacher training and educational material for the OSSRC.
New Zealand moves to bring census online: The New Zealand government has awarded the contract to develop an online census form to IT firm Datacom. Under the terms of the deal, the value of which was not disclosed, Datacom will develop, integrate, operate and support the electronic census form, which will exist alongside the traditional paper census forms used by government agency Statistics New Zealand. Datacom will develop a data collection system that integrates an online option into overall census processes, giving the public the option of completing their census forms online or on paper. "Initial testing has shown that around 15 percent to 20 percent of people may want to take up this [electronic] option in 2006," said Government Statistician Brian Pink in a statement. Pink added that, as well as meeting e-government objectives for delivering online services, Statistics New Zealand would also make savings in collection and processing costs in relation to the census in the future. The new system will be trialled in March 2005, in preparation for the census itself in March 2006.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews.net, 13.10.2004
