During the meeting, the Dubai eGovernment team, consisting of Hisham Al Amiri, Development Manager; Rehab Lootah, eServices Provisioning Manager; Mahmood Al Bastaki, Business Process Re-engineering Consultant; Okan Geray, Strategic Planning and Implementation Consultant and Marwan Al Naqi, Community Outreach Officer - Government Sector, briefed the attendees on the latest developments in eServices such as eLearn, eEmployee, mDubai, eJob, ePay, AskDubai, eJawaz, e4all magazine, and the steps taken to market eServices to the government departments.
Hisham Al Amiri, Development Manager, highlighted the projected developments in IT for the year 2004. “In order to keep ahead with the latest offerings in technology, we are in the process of exchanging the application servers to a more advanced system. After almost three years of working with our present set up, we feel the time has come to move to a more compatible and user friendly system”. Al Amiri explained the new system is more flexible especially in service upgrade and security issues. “The new system is scalable to support more government department users. Flow of information between departments will be smoother and faster, leading to improved delivery of eServices.”
Rehab Lootah, eServices Provisioning Manager, highlighted the strides made by Dubai eGovernment’s eLearn in online courses provided on the portal. “We offer more than 3,000 courses not just in IT, but in diverse fields such as self development, skill enhancement and sales & marketing, in association with leading training institutes. These courses are ideal for government departments because they offer the Learning Management System (LMS) which allows the Human Resources Manager to monitor the employee’s learning progress.”
Lootah also focused on eEmployee, a double certification program that combines ICDL-Start certification with three additional courses of instruction selected by Dubai eGovernment, to meet the specific needs of government departments. “These online courses are conducted on global standards and are designed to provide government employees mastery in computers upon completion of all the courses.” To encourage further growth and e-learning, Dubai eGovernment has introduced eEmployee Plus, designed for directors or employees who have already completed at least three online courses. “If the participants complete the three additional courses, they become eEmployee Plus, which certifies an advanced level of expertise in computers.”
Lootah briefed government departments about the latest figures of mDubai, the service that has, to date, enabled, over 20 government departments to deliver more than half a million messages to customers through mobile phones.
eJob, which allows job-seekers searching for job opportunities in the public sector to submit their CVs electronically, was also highlighted. This service can be accessed by all government departments seeking to fill vacancies, and the response can be tracked by the applicant. Lootah urged all government departments to use eJob to manage their recruitment needs and to give young nationals the opportunity to work.
Mahmoud Al Bastaki, Business Process Re-engineering Consultant, highlighted the benefits of using ePay, an integrated payment solution which allows general public to pay for government services using major credit cards or the e-Dirham. “For the participating departments, ePay brings several benefits. It helps minimise running costs, transactional errors and manpower by automating the systems. Government departments can also save on costs of maintaining individual online payment facilities,” said Al Bastaki. “Moreover, it offers citizens the option of making online payments for public services at no additional cost, by simply using the ePay facility on Dubai eGovernment’s integrated portal.”
AskDubai, the eGovernment unified call center launched in June 2003, is an advanced system that brings great benefit to government departments. “Each government department can track the exact breakdown of calls, complaints, or queries received in relation to their own services, helping them identify areas of improvement. Monthly statistical reports are also available upon request,” added Al Bastaki.
Okan Geray, Strategic Planning and Implementation Consultant, informed the heads of the eGovernment teams about the latest developments in eJawaz. “We are presently working closely with the Ministry of Interior on the National Identity project. eJawaz will unify and consolidate the provisioning of identity services to access Dubai eGovernment services. It is a long term process as it involves specific authentication and authorisation procedures, to avoid misuse of eGovernment applications ” said Geray. He asked government departments to nominate a representative to finalise the policies and technical guidance documentation.
Marwan Al Naqi, Community Outreach Officer - Government Sector, revealed that the e4all monthly magazine of Dubai eGovernment is an excellent marketing tool, as it features in depth articles about the various eServices available, in addition to articles related to egovernance in general. Of the 30,000 copies printed, 70 per cent are distributed among government departments, 15 per cent among the private sector, 10 per cent among educational institutions and 5 per cent to business executives residing overseas. There are plans to convert e4all into an online magazine soon.
Quelle: Dubai Interact, 03.03.2004
