Department of Naturalization and Residency, Dubai (DNRD)
During the early years of the e-Government initiative, DNRD implemented the Old Online System using the Oracle Application Server 4.0 at the middle tier and the Oracle 8i RDBMS for the database. Oracle Application Server 4.0 for the middle tier was later upgraded to Oracle Application Server 10g which was developed using the Oracle WebToolKit. The Application data was written to a separate database and a batch job was used to validate and write the data in the Immigration System. Meanwhile, the new EDNRD was implemented using Oracle Portal, Oracle Application Server 10g and Oracle 9i RDBMS. With these IT infrastructures, the Immigration Department was able to provide information for other different government departments such as Ministry of Health (MOH), Dubai Economic Dept (DED), Dubai Municipality (DM), and the Ministry of Labour (MOL). In the case of employment visas applied at the Ministry of Labour, applications are directly transferred to the Immigration Department for approval and issuance. The health and medical test results are likewise directly transferred to the Immigration Department. These online transactions between and among government departments contributed to the continuous improvement of the e-Government Information System design to create better public services to the customers of each department ( DNRD IT Department Quality and e-Services Manager).
Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM)
The statistics collected from the OSIC (One Stop Information Centre) system are utilized for the DTCM marketing purposes. The OSIC database provide information such as the inquirer’s origin country, reasons for the request (business, investment or research), type of information requested (reports, figures, charts, images) and other valuable information related to the city’s tourism industry ( DTCM IT Manager). In the past, the people in DTCM classification section stood against any new technologies to renew their system but now realized the load of work that could be made efficient by upgrading the technologies to increasing the work outputs. At present, DTCM is driven by the electronic transformation initiative (, DTCM Managing Director).
Dubai Municipality (DM)
DM e-Services are primarily geared towards increased value for money, time and productivity within the department and other government units as well as among public and private individuals and organizations that the department transacts with. When the department transferred the request and issuance of Non Objection Certificate (NOC) to the fully integrated electronic system, requests were directly submitted to the central database by accessing the DM website where the concerned divisions handle the processing. NOCs are requested from several divisions such as road, planning and sewage sections for project infrastructure approvals which takes time if transacted personally with the staff and employees of the department. The redesigned workflow of the system reduced the time, money, and effort spent in delivering this particular service fulfilling the goals of the department to create efficiency in its service deliveries. The e-Transformation of the department’s services resulted to increased internal and external customer satisfaction. Employees and staff of the department who were apprehensive of the electronic transformations during the early implementation of the e-Government services resolved their technological dilemmas since expected work output were exceeded. The general public as well as private organizations who utilized the DM’s e-Services became more satisfied with the quality of service rendered by the department through online transactions. The conducted studies under the supervision of DM reported increased customer satisfaction ( DM Deputy Director-General).
Dubai Police (DP)
The strategies unified the platforms of DP public service deliveries (, DP e-Services Deputy Manager). The e-Services provided by the department distinguish the type and use of the available electronic services. The categories include distinction between the query, informative, and transactional services. The nature of the services required are also differentiated into Security, Criminal, and Traffic which were extracted from the general strategic categories of the police department. With the introduction of the e-Government initiative, DEG provided the service definition standards which provide more detailed systematic classifications of the electronic services available. The department adapted with the DEG standards to achieve and be in line with the general public service provision strategy set by the Dubai government for its administrative units. As such, the department started the utilization of the Balance Scorecard and the RADAR system though the Archive Architecture which allowed DP to define its goals. This resulted to daily adherence and implementation of the general government strategy by achieving the goals designated to the department to meet the standards provided by DEG. Subsequent project planning and applications were conducted under the principles of service initiation, service improvement, service evaluation, and service maintenance towards achieving an electronic society. All these contributed to the distinction of the weaknesses and strengths of the e-Services division of the department ( PD Systems and Programs Section Head and , PD e-Services Development Section Head).
Land Department (LD)
Contrary to other departments’ evaluation, LD highlighted the negative implications of the e-Government initiative particularly the incapacity of DEG’s centralization software to deliver the service needs of the department along with other government units that due to unqualified technical team and the less developed system profiles of other links. This was evident in the case of the e-Pay service in which LD administration was highly disappointed since online payments is critical to the departments electronic functions. The administration calls the attention of DEG to further organize its centralization system and consider the risks of its implementation before initiating it to the department units ( LD Senior Web Architect).
, LD Senior Web Architect, further elaborated that DEG should not fully rely on technical provisions of each department and should take into account the technical applications of other external organizations since there are existing differences on the technical advancements among the concerned government units. Trial period should have been considered first before the full application of the system to avoid the mishaps that have transpired which threatened the DEG’s development skills. He advised DEG administration to consult with technical systems experts on the best possible solutions to amend the e-Government initiative shortages since unqualified teams manage the system.
The Executive Office (TEO)
Three issues were considered by the department in designing the KPIs for the entire government. These include the department’s decree, objective, mission and vision to keep up with international standards. The standards were revised after two years on implementation to reflect the strategic plans of the government. Each department was assisted to construct their individual strategic plans that reflect the standards identified by TEO to design accurate and better indicators. This initiative was based on different segments to determine the specific objectives of each department and the general goals of the government. The complete strategic plan will be launched on August 2006 and will serve as milestones which will guide the Executive Board. Hopefully, the initiative will resolve the issues and concerns that confront the government departments such as unclear vision, communication gaps, and difficulties in designing their strategic plans and goals (, TEO Associate Project Manager).
IV. Contributions of the E-Government System in Designing Government Policies
Dubai E-Government (DEG)
According to , DEG e-Services Director, in 1999 the higher management in Dubai conceptualized a strategic plan for its IT sector which took six months to complete. The plan contains all the possible IT projects for Dubai along with a general vision which included the inputs of expert individuals from both the public and private sectors of the community. The initiative was geared towards the involvement of all parties in the IT transformation through e-enable or e-business projects frameworks and resulted to the as the electronic market and the e-Education which establish the aim for a new educated community. These were only made possible through the participation of the local government which resulted to the conceptualization of the e-Government initiative as guided by the belief that the success of the projects are grounded on the support of the government which will involve the public, and henceforth, the private sector.
The e-Government initiative resulted to improvements with respect to the productivity issues of the Dubai since the project proved to be efficient, cost effective, and increases work quality when it comes to public service transactions. These transactions include ( DEG e-Services Director):
1) e-Payment.
2) Customer service centre and call centre.
3) Phone and mobile SMS services.
4) Information and procedures e-Integration in departments.
5) e-Hosting of Governments’ websites.
6) Standardization of services.
Department of Economic Development (DED)
As the first government department to operate a mobile programme which supports the GPRS system, DEG was able to provide an ideal channel for those who wish to complete government transactions through the INFOTouch system without visiting the department in person. The system links DEG services directly to the internal customer care system to complete procedures and track the current status of transactions by entering the reference number. The services provided by INFOTouch are free of charge and were designed for convenient transactions of business entities with the government. The system is not a revenue generating service which is part of the department’s objective to provide quality public service (, DED IT Division Supervisor).
Developed by DED, INFOTouch enabled access to a set of economic services and data through the use mobile communication phones (Sultan Ali Lootah, DED IT Division Supervisor). These economic services include:
Moreover, DED provided basic training orientations and practical lessons among the members of the public users. Demonstrations were also provided for the customers to learn the basic computer operations of availing the department’s e-Services. Printed materials in the form of brochures were distributed as part of the information campaign to provide the public guidelines on how to use the DED portal. The DED portal likewise provides learning guidelines to assist the customers visiting the DED website on how to apply for online DED service. The Helpdesk Application provides educational database which allows the public users to resolve problems on online transaction procedures through electronic inquiries. With the assistance of the DEG’s Customer Call Centre, DED customers were also able to inquire about related services of the department (, DED IT Division Supervisor).
Department of Naturalization and Residency, Dubai (DNRD)
DNRD has taken a major change towards achieving complete eTransformation of its services by providing eForms which is designed to improve service quality as well as reduce the time and cost of tedious internal administrative routines. The visa boxes, through which the companies’ representatives receive their documents, have become history with the introduction of e-transactions. The online service through the website of the DNRD () provides direct communication between the client and the administration resulted to more efficient transactions with the department personnel. This has been made possible through the facility of online applications, e-payment of fees and online delivery of the services (, DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
The DNRD e-Services include all DNRD transaction forms, such as visit visa and residence visa renewal along with free registration-based services which allow users to fill in the forms electronically. The eForm service is easily accessible via https://eform.ae or via DNRD portal to both individuals and corporations that intend to transact with the department. The eForm attachments operate immediately in Arabic and English and are classified into simplified categories to allow customers easy access to the desired form. The website employs a code-based electronic contact channel to guarantee customers’ privacy and confidentiality and prevent any attempts to manipulate their data ( DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
To use the service, the company’s representatives should come to “Establishment Card Section” at the DNRD to fill out the special subscription form and obtain the password that gives access to the online services of the department and to deposit fees in the company’s account at the designated bank’s branch located at DNRD, from which the transaction fees would be directly deducted. This electronic transformation within DNRD contributed greatly to paperless archiving within the department and information sharing with other government departments. Field studies are continuously conducted focusing on the DNDR eForms service in an effort to enhance its efficiency levels (Hana Al Mari, DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM)
Through the e-Government initiative, DTCM was able to continue the department’s electronic transformation objectives automating several systems like the OSIC, the overseas promotion system, the permit system, and the on going e-Transformation of the classification system ( DTCM IT Manager). The department decided to host an online booking service since 1999 which is run by an outsourced company so as not to loose potential tourists who favour the services of government sponsored online booking companies as well as to create a competitive edge over other international tourism sectors.
Since e-Transformation was considered as a new wave in the tourism industry during that time, DTCM made sure the city will not electronically lag and was able to reach more customers by offering online public services that are highly similar to personal service transactions. All these were initiated in line with the goal of DTCM to promote local tourism which through time led to the improvement of the online services in terms of increased customer security. Furthermore, the 100% occupancy rate all year round among hotels and other accommodation services in the city made evident the need to p5ovide sound solutions to the challenges of the local tourism industry ( , DTCM Managing Director).
Dubai Municipality (DM)
, DM Deputy Director-General, reported that around 146 systems have been fully automated and integrated with the electronic systems of other government departments. The systems are periodically evaluated as supervised both by internal and external consultants to maintain the efficient work flow of the system and provide satisfying customer services. Public awareness campaigns and training sessions for both the internal and external customers are likewise provided by DM to ensure high usage of the electronic services offered by the department. The importance of public awareness in utilizing the e-Services which includes revising, tracking and updating public transactions online will improve the internal environment of work for the benefit of the entire e-Government system to serve its purpose.
Dubai Police (DP)
In line with the e-Government initiative, the department decided to list first the services that customers most frequently demand. This was conducted by identifying the services that customers inquire most of the time and the services which have the highest rate of completed transactions. The IT section then, started the e-Transformation project of the department. Through such process, the DP administration became capable of distinguishing more services that can be electronically transferred and was provided with opportunities to rearrange and redesign the available online services of the department to be competitive in terms of technological initiatives. By reengineering the services, DP was able to enhance the department’s workflow systems to shorten transactions and save time, money and effort within the organization for the benefit of both the employees and public users of the electronic services. This likewise supported the initiative of the entire government to transform the majority of public services online ( PD Systems and Programs Section Head and , PD e-Services Development Section Head).
The Comprehensive Officer project handles and completes customers’ requests more efficiently which saved every potential customer from the hassle and inconvenient personal processing of requests. A committee was commissioned for the transformation project which works with external consultants and avail the best business venture from the services. In every electronically transformed service, the department upgrade the entire application to the general database of the government as well as into the departments system. It became one of the goals of the department to upload every electronic service to the government’s network and not just to the website maintained by the department. Moreover, the project made it possible for employees to approach their daily duties and responsibilities more efficiently and more convenient by learning the software lifecycle procedures and the e-Services life cycle procedures (, PD Systems and Programs Section Head and , PD e-Services Development Section Head).
Land Department (LD)
According to , LD Senior Web Architect, DEG did not help the Government in improving the public services and was not able to deliver latest technological knowledge available to ease the services provisions among the departments. Internal communication between and among each department, insufficient number of employees and unqualified members of the DEG team highly contributed to the inadequate and unsatisfactory results of the first stages of the e-Government initiative. There is a need for DEG to employ professional people for more effective knowledge and skills transformation that will prepare the administration with its tasks to attain the goals and objectives set by the government.
Furthermore, an electronic government initiative should at least address and forecast the impending difficulties that each department may confront upon implementation. Specific requirements in completing different public transactions electronically should be considered in order to deliver better services to the customers. Collaboration between government units and a full collection of information among the units in a single database should be employed to allow the convenient and efficient access, change, and addition of relevant information needs among departments. A research and development centre (R&D) that houses qualified members to help other departments improve customer services should be created not just for the successful implementation of the e-Government initiative but also for the continuous development of the electronic services of the government ( LD Senior Web Architect).
The Executive Office (TEO)
After two years and half of implementing the e-Government initiative, changes in the system so far match the latest requirement. By putting service standards though definitions and details, the E-Government became more attainable among government departments since transactional services are more tangible to measure. Awareness in the society of the departments’ services will enable TEO to collect data from the utilization of the e-Services. This system works on all the levels comprehensively from organizational performance measurement and down to subdivisions to reach and monitor individual performance. The system could also measure the efficiency of certain group activities that belong to different subdivisions (, TEO Associate Project Manager).
The specialized Audit team validate the data received and follow up on the mechanism to produce the results by avoiding any possible error to reflect real performances among the departments. The e-Government is not about centralization, it is more about putting guidance infrastructure and enhancing the service quality rather than the actual implementation of the e-Transformation project. A change in the mentality that depicts perception of the public sector, particularly the government, will establish the modernization of Dubai government administration as well as technological capabi9lity of the people who will define the success of the project through usage and application along with exercising the benefits of the initiative ( TEO Associate Project Manager).
V. Problems and Issues in the Implementation of the E-Government System
Dubai E-Government (DEG)
Although each government department is equipped with their own websites and electronic services, the e-Government initiative was confronted with lack of IT experts among the employees of the departments. This resulted to loss of a great portion of the allocated budget for the project since funds were spent on experiments and testing projects due to lack of experience. The different providers of electronic services that each department consulted also made the first stages of the project more difficult, particularly the collaboration for the synergic services. IT experts likewise suffered from too much focus on the technical end of the project. The administrative and managerial aspects of the project, which is the core objective of the project’s aim to provide faster and better public services, was ill-prioritized in the vision to lead and govern technologically. There is a need to distinguish between the strategic and managerial issues more than the technologies (, DEG e-Services Director).
Department of Economic Development (DED)
The DED was confronted with several implementation barriers that slowed the improvement stages of the e-Government initiative during its early years. These barriers include the shortage of qualified IT expert employees and the lack of updated technologies. These were the result of communication gap and lack of awareness among every government department regarding the importance and intentions of the e-Government project. The early years of the e-Government was illustrated with the absence of clear goals and objectives along with uncertainties among departments regarding the use and importance of electronic public services. The government departments were under the assumption that the e-Government project only aims to present the departments by giving each a web page. Moreover, the year 1999 was characterized with the global idea but shallow know-how on the Internet despite the existence of the World Wide Web which is shared by Dubai and the rest of the world during that time. But when the departments were given a clear orientation on the importance of the e-Government and the rationale behind the project, each entity started seeking ways to improve their services through electronic means. External factors likewise confronted the department particularly concerns regarding awareness among customer on such initiative (, DED IT Division Supervisor).
Department of Naturalization and Residency, Dubai (DNRD)
Implementation of the e-Government System presented budget constraints in the case of DNRD. At the early phase of the project, DNRD management was very keen to invest as much to facilitate the use of technology in all the department’s operations since the standards set by entails costly technological expenditures. Along with these financial concerns, customers of the DNRD addressed difficulties and apprehensions regarding the e-Services provided by the department. Customers claimed that they had to go to a specialized typing shop to fill in their applications which were the only ones able to log in the site. These typing shops charge between Dhs. 15 to Dhs. 30 for filling an application. Moreover, in cases of rejected applications transaction fees of applicants are entitled for refunds. But to get the refund, the applicants have to visit DATEL contact centre, fill in a refund form and wait for about three to four months to get the refund, with a deduction of Dhs. 20. This process in particular, contradicts the objectives of the DNRD e-Services to provide efficient and cost-effective transactions to its customers and increase satisfaction levels (, DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM)
During the period of 2000 to 2005, waste of human resources, money and time occurred in meeting the target 90% electronic transformation of public services in the year 2007. According to , DTCM IT Manager, the initial approval for the project “the single sign on” contributed to these government losses as DEG decided to hold the project until all concerned government departments reach the stage of full electronic transformation of the public services. The department also used to have an internal e-Government committee that was responsible for the electronic transformation in DTCM but the committee was dissolved for the DEG institution. DTC during the early e-Government implantation was confronted with lack of futuristic vision in its IT division contrary to the goals of the higher management.
The expenses of using advanced technologies contributed to the lack of support for technological projects along with other factors such as lack of communication, mismanagement, unclear vision of the project and unrealistic targets. However, the completion of technological projects at present turned to be a need as customer awareness increased on the importance of using online communication to avail public services (, DTCM Managing Director).
Dubai Municipality (DM)
According to , DM Deputy Director-General, many services are still not fully accessible to the Internet users because the department shares the processing of these services with other external departments that have still not developed their electronic portals. The problem centres on government departments that lack fully developed electronic infrastructure which makes them incapable of integrating their services with the more developed departments. In this light, DEG must take full responsibility to coordinate between departments through proper monitoring, follow-ups, and technical support to government departments that lack of essential technical systems in order to create a fully integrated system that can offer purely electronic services to the public. Despite existing cooperation between government departments for the success of the e-Government initiative, old infrastructure and management style stand as barriers for full electronic integration.
In the beginning, DM was confronted with difficulties regarding public participation through usage of the department’s e-Services. But at present, customers are demanding more facilities that will be helpful in their electronic transactions with the DM’s portal particularly the users of e-Pay and other DM e-Services that indicated high frequency of use. These feedback were supported by the department though policies that encourage the maintenance of effective communication with the customers and other users of DM website (, DM Deputy Director-General).
Dubai Police (DP)
The implementation of the e-Government initiative resulted to a number of challenges that DP had to overcome to attend to the department’s duties and meet the expectations of the customers. Security measures became an issue since the department is required to protect sensitive data and the interest of the public in general. DP had been very conscious of the possibilities of data hijacking which will endanger the entire government. There were data and information that were electronically transferred to the Home Affair Ministry due to high security reasons ( PD Systems and Programs Section Head and , PD e-Services Development Section Head).
Communication and coordination with DEG also proved to be a challenge as expected project deliverables are not timely provided as expected. The SMS service in particular which DEG provides met a lot of complaints from the customers due to slow messaging channels. DP is highly disturbed by the fact that SMS services are highly need by the department since they are expected to respond immediately to any emergency need of the public. It was found out that DEG is having difficulties due to high volume of transactions which resulted to delayed public announcements to the public ( PD Systems and Programs Section Head and , PD e-Services Development Section Head).
In 1995, the department was the first organization in the public sector to offer the IVR system use to deliver public services informing the public through telephone channels while in 1999 the web ticketing inquiry project was established followed by the ComTrust link as the first payment gateway in UAE which was provided by ETISALAT. All these illustrates that the department has rich experience when it comes to automated services. However, the implementation of the e-Transformation called for public awareness among customers to fully succeed. The WAP portal failed after its launching because customers were not prepared of such electronic service transformation along with electronic accessories which were expensive and unpopular during that time ( PD Systems and Programs Section Head and , PD e-Services Development Section Head).
In the case of the e-SMS and the e-Pay services provided by the DEG, the administrative units were not able to forecast the possible difficulties of the absence of enough IT infrastructure and technologies to meet the demands of the customers. This was evident in the volume of complaints the department faced due to delayed and e\inefficient services. This was also the result of the lack of definite standards and objectives which were supposedly delivered by DEG to every government department from which to build the organizations e-Transformation projects. Moreover, there are still departments which are characterized with relatively lower electronic knowledge and skills that hinder the entire network’s efficiency and full implementation. Again, DEG need to support such technical and skill deficiency among departments that lags in the e-Government initiative ( DP E-Services Deputy Manager).
Land Department (LD)
When the DEG Portal was launched, LD joined the DEG server and continued to use the Web Content Manager (WCM) software of the department since purchasing a new license for the electronic transformation project is expensive. But before this initiative, the department has long been using its own website which was hosted by ETISALAT during the year 1007 to 1999. However, LD was confronted with numerous obstacles in the implementation of the electronic project across Dubai departments. These include the difficulty of dynamic updates of the department’s website as hoisted by DEG in which LD relies most of its electronic services to the customers. That time, XML was not yet popularly used across the region along with security issues on the nature of information that LD handles (LD Senior Web Architect).
DEG conducted technical trainings for the staff and members of LD particularly on the use of the MCS, but the MCS proved to be difficult to use due to instable system status, bugs, and menus that are not user-friendly. As such, connecting the LD website to the DEG Portal did not push through when LD administration decided to withdraw their participation on the offered hosting strategy of DEG. There were also occasions when DEG needed to stop the department from accessing the files in the DEG database during times of technical upgrading. It so happened, that during that time, LD is participating in the Gulf Information Technology Exhibitions (GITEX) and the need to update the department’s performance report so as not to showcase old data to the visitors and prospective business partners. All these resulted from DEG’s lack of communication to the government departments that their portal is serving along with the lack of technical skills among the people of DEG and other departments that are centrally linked to the e-Government project. LD officially withdrew electronic partnership with DEG in 2003 to host the department’s own server since there are qualified members of the organization who are capable of providing better technical assistance and service to LD’s website and proceed on internal hosting activities in the IT division ( LD Senior Web Architect).
The e-Government project directly affected the decision-making processes within LD as new projects were implemented in the department’s own portal to keep up with the expectations of the higher management. Other strategies initiated by the higher management were likewise incorporated in the e-Services of the department particularly performance measurement systems for the uniform evaluation of all Dubai departments under the e-Transformation project such as the ITL and the Balance Scorecard systems. These performance measurement systems provided by the government motivated the members of the department to keep up with the goals of the entire Dubai public administration which increased internal and external awareness on the use of technologies in improving service deliveries in the public sector (, LD Senior Web Architect).
The Executive Office (TEO)
In the beginning, it was difficult to convince the departments on the benefits of the e-Government system. This includes lack of awareness on the major quadrants monitored and assessed by the system such as:
1. Achieving main targets of the department according to their strategic plan,
2. Operational efficiency in running the department and its administration with available resources,
3. Customer satisfaction with the department’s performance and services, and
4. Employees’ satisfaction with their department.
The whole system is built on KPI idea and each department has a predefined set of KPIs on which to model their strategic plans to meet the objectives of the government to electronically transform the entire public services provisions. Any system has it obstacles and the initiative of measuring the performance will create difficulties as well as fear and resistance on the concerned parties. As such there is a need to change such mentality (, TEO Associate Project Manager).
VI. Current Concerns of the Municipality in Implementing and Utilizing the E-Government System
Dubai E-Government (DEG)
DEG still aims to gain the confidence of the public which will enable the department to overcome the communication gap and barriers of the full use the e-Government Services though continuous effort to increase public awareness, knowledge and skills of using the technological advancement of the Internet. The department is also confronted with information ownership and security problems with respect to private company partnerships of each government department due to unclear rules and responsibilities. Moreover, information duplication slows and delays the completion of on going technological projects of DEG particularly on the synergic services due to lack of communication among concerned parties. Full electronic transactions between the departments are still impossible since there are still services in the concerned departments that are not yet in their electronic versions ( DEG Service Provisioning Manager.
The e-Government plan should be implemented in the technical perspective and not from the business perspective. There is also a need to determine the services available in each department particularly those that are qualified to include in the e-Services program. Furthermore, the whole administration should work as a team and individualism among each department should be avoided by considering the entire government body. Harmonious relationships between departments were maintained through (, DEG e-Services Director):
1) Introduction of joint standards.
2) Circulation of best practices.
3) Cost control
4) Marketing acceleration and centralized services promotion.
Department of Economic Development (DED)
According to , DED IT Division Supervisor, it is predicted that the use of the e-Government system will increase in the next 5 to 10 years. This calls for general public education on the use of electronic communication to avail government services and meet the targeted 90% government services provision online. Public exhibits are not enough to reach the common public since GITEX appears to only cater to interested parties whose concerns are business and technological opportunities. The general public or the common masses should be the primary focus of the awareness campaigns through hands on trials. Community-based road shows and seminars that give light on technical know-how of availing e-Services among the masses should be provided to target the real customers of government services. Efficient communication between the departments and the higher management should exist not just during service launching orientations and company partnership options since consistent evaluation of the available e-Services are needed to improve the e-Government system in general. Each government department need to have a strategic marketing plan for their e-Services to ensure 50% public usage of these online government services. Productive competition between departments should be made visible in order to create positive outputs in improving the entire e-Government system trough transparent technical and managerial developments.
Department of Naturalization and Residency, Dubai (DNRD)
Although obtaining an authorized username and password to access the site is an easy process, operating the program responsible for showing the forms and filling them out is not as simple. For technical reasons, in order to ensure security of data, the website developers have set up security systems. The eForms attachment program requires a special firewall set-up that is used to protect the PC against common viruses. As a result, the process of setting these attachments is not always successful and causes a lot of inconvenience to an ordinary user (, DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
Some customers expressed their disappointments as they filled in the applications personally and paid the fees electronically. Moreover, the fee payments for these services are enabled through credit cards or direct bank transfers which are only open to customers of Emirates Bank and Dubai National Bank. After filling in the eForm, DATEL’s software transfers the applicant’s information to be saved on DNRD’s database while the applicant prints a copy of the form to present it to the counter employee at the department, who uses a scan machine to confirm the data of the signed original copy. In this case, users still need to visit the department instead of electronically submitting their applications in view of the sensitive nature of the department’s transactions for validation purposes of the data presented by applicants to avoid any manipulation ( DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
In cases of rejected applications, customers suggested the provision of a service with an automatic mechanism to reject incomplete applications and the ones that don’t meet the conditions to simplify the system and avoid the inconvenience of additional personal transactions ( DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM)
According to DTCM IT Manager, the online hotel booking service provided by DTCM which is run by WorldRes will soon be outsourced to another online services company. This is in line with the department’s evaluation that the current provider does not match the vision set by DTCM along with the volume of complaints form the customers on the rendered services. The department decided to attach a disclaimer regarding legal; issues that customers might address based on the services they received from the outsourced company. WorldRes has been the online booking services provider for DTCM since 1999, but enumerated low service quality have been neglected by the management due to the IT division’s unclear vision and the absence of internal performance measurement system that could have addressed such services lapses. Moreover, the huge pressure of implementing the GPR interrupted the e-Transformation activities of the department.
Additionally, the DTCM is also concerned with the accuracy issues of the results provided by the performance measurement systems used to evaluate the electronic transformation of the services of all government departments. Provision for accurate performance measurement indicators that serve the purpose of the entire government to provide quality public service to the people was likewise addressed. Ethical issues regarding biased results of the performance measurement reports was also mentioned as concerned individuals started to enhance and change the indicators to serve personal interests. Furthermore, the e-Government system needs a defined standard which all government departments will adhere in order to achieve the common objectives shared by the individual public administration units (, DTCM Managing Director).
Dubai Municipality (DM)
DM Deputy Director-General, believes that there is existing misunderstandings on the meaning of “Electronic Government” among the people in the public sector particularly within government departments as some managers think that by putting a website for his department on the internet he fulfils the e-Government requirement. E-Government serves as link between the external and the internal customers in which internal customer serves the external ones since there are external service needs from the internal customers. It should likewise link the groups of internal customers with other groups of internal customers which vary from business companies, private organizations, government departments, and common citizens. Moreover, most managers misunderstand the idea and underlying concept of automation as they convert the exact workflow from the manual framework to an electronic version without studying and reengineering the departments’ e-Services system. This practice does not allow the customer to enter their information in to the system due to lack of built-in engine to fully integrate the users to the supposedly available online transactions.
Dubai Police (DP)
According to , PD Systems and Programs Section Head and , PD e-Services Development Section Head, the department is confronted with the need to reach the desired percentage of usage of its e-Services to be fully functional to the public. The department did not face major technical problems regarding the electronic transformation of its services per se but was highly concerned with how to convince the public to use the available online services. In line with this, the department decided to find ways to further minimize the number of over-the-counter transactions as well as to take advantage of every promotional event and exhibits for opportunities to campaign for the e-Services increased usage. The department’s administration fears the blame from the higher management if the desired percentage of usage is not met as targeted. Moreover, other government departments such as the Health, Municipality, and Economic Development units with which DP records high transaction rate due to common services relatively lag in terms of service electronic transformation for integration. Furthermore, there are departments who think that particular services are exclusively offered by their institution which result to a lot of difficulties on the part of the customers. In this case, DP calls for DEG’s intervention to narrow the gaps between concerned government departments for the efficient public service delivery of the entire government.
Land Department (LD)
According to , LD Senior Web Architect, the decision of the department to control its own website and withdraw from DEG’s project was in line with the technical issues that beset the efficient operation of the organization that directly affect the quality of services offered to the public and private entities. Furthermore, the Portal that DEG host is only applicable to departments that are newly transforming their services electronically and the departments that handle smaller databases. The huge database needed to accommodate all the important and highly demanded information and data that LD manages is simply impossible in DEG’s Portal. DEG’s Portal is only suitable as a static informative site that does not contain interactive services. The department already operates advanced IT infrastructure and electronic services which the DEG’s Portal can not provide for.
The Executive Office (TEO)
The size of the department influenced number of indicators needed by each department. TEO’s role is to measure the performance from the corporate level and not from the administrative level. To implement this system on the corporate level, the departments need to take this initiative and implement it internally with the help of the electronic system. The department has some difficulties in the general indicators that are shared between the departments and even internally and is working on a guideline to complete the process and the strategic plan through each department’s KPIs sets (, TEO Associate Project Manager).
VII. Assessment and Evaluation of the E-Government System’s Success
According to , Program Consultant of Dubai Government Excellence Program, despite the fact that it took years to implement the e-Government initiative and the resistance that confronted the project at the beginning, it was enough to fuel the cause of the project as today everyone is aware that the electronic government services is the only solution to cutch up the developed countries.
Dubai E-Government (DEG)
Compared to the other emirates and countries, it is evident that Dubai has reached a very developed stage in the e-Government sector of public administration initiatives due to experiential learning and support that the project gained through time. Issues on performance measurement, quality of work, single strategic plan for public administration, as well as concerns regarding employment have been given light through the implementation of the e-Government. This opened new possibilities and opportunities for improvement and development of the entire Dubai since inherent public issues are addressed more efficiently and therefore, given action which cleared and defined the progressive direction that the local government intends to take (, DEG Service Provisioning Manager).
The entire Government and the e-Government initiative will be in better position if it is further equip with authority that will support the aims of the project along with the employment and involvement of qualified and quality people to consist the professional team in each department. The unspoken authority based on respect, appreciation, desire for self-assertion, accountability and competition to achieve the successful implementation of the e-Government services (, DEG e-Services Director).
Department of Economic Development (DED)
When the e-Government system was launch, it was announced that the system will enable convenient access to all public services offered by the government through electronic transactions. But evidently, this was not the case during the early implementation of the system. Revising the goals and vision of the project relative to the realistic application of the system proved to be more attainable and more satisfying particularly on the integration approaches that were initiated for efficient work flows between and among government departments. The single sign-in program is very successful in providing integrated government services to the business and public sector in general. Moreover, following the electronic system models and designs which were previously used by other countries in creating their electronic service provisions proved to be inapplicable to other organizations such as the e-Government System project of Dubai municipality. Local identity, culture, environmental variables, religion, and social setting factors highly influence the most appropriate methods for the success of the e-Government Information System (, DED IT Division Supervisor).
Department of Naturalization and Residency, Dubai (DNRD)
DNRD’s long term vision is to move all to e-Services to provide a high level of satisfaction of services to clients and customers through more effective and efficient online government transactions of public services by year 2008. , Head of DATEL contact centre, claimed that the DNRD’s e-Services had generated strong response among customers, with the daily submitted applications averaging at over 5,000. This reflects the level of usage of the public of the department’s electronic services. However, many users are disappointed with the complexity of filling in some of the fields on the application form, including lack of clarity to an ordinary user suggesting the facility of an interactive demonstration samples to serve as models and guidelines to conveniently browse the department’s website and avail its e-Services ( DNRD Quality and e-Services Manager).
Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM)
Organizations, whether public or private realize the need for electronic applications to achieve the goals and objectives set by the management. It used to be the lack of awareness and the mentality of some mangers that made DTCM lagged in the performance measurement procedures along with unclear communication channels and lack of authority for the quality section. With TEO’s initiative Dubai was characterized excellently against neighbouring countries in terms of electronic provision of public services. The e-Government flexibility allowed inventiveness and productive competition between and among government departments in providing the best public services ( , DTCM Quality Assurance Coordinator).
The use of technology proved to be beneficial for DTCM public administration of services along with different existing service-oriented organizations. In the field of tourism, the trend towards e-Transformation increased through time to provide the need for efficient and informative public services particularly in terms of accommodation concerns among foreign visitors or tourists. Through the possibility and availability of online services DTCM was able to cope and adapt to the changes in the international tourism industry to create competitiveness against other tourism service providers while giving the public quality tourism services. The department is offering the best electronic practices which were indicated in the latest UN performance measurement evaluation as DTCM continues to create solutions to current e-Transformation issues that beset the organization (, DTCM Managing Director).
Dubai Municipality (DM)
The e-Government committee need to have a sense of transparency by considering the overall image of Dubai to cope with the development of each department and to enable full data sharing. DEG should give the full support to government departments with problems on progressing or upgrading their current e-Transformation status for improved electronic services. These departments need to identify the drawbacks that confront them from achieving the objectives of the e-Government initiative and ask for knowledge, and technical assistance. Government department should share experiences to enable uniform electronic development on the entire e-Government system ( Deputy Director-General).
Dubai Police (DP)
The changes can be seen in the advanced technology that the department is adopting along with the increased number of e-Services in DP’s website. Before the e-Government initiative, the department’s services used to depend on small database software which is the Microsoft Access. The pressure increased as increased awareness of the benefits of electronic transactions spread which resulted to the utilization of the Oracle Database as well as the JAVA and the JSP languages for the department’s programming tasks. The e-Transformation initiative supported DP’s increasing need to upgrade its IT infrastructure to best deliver the services and provide the public with quality services. DEG need to be more technically skilled to support the government departments regarding tangible products to meet the target set by the higher management. The single sign in service and the single portal which host the Dubai services will be very helpful in adhering to the objectives of the entire government (, PD Systems and Programs Section Head and Noura Al Sayegh, PD e-Services Development Section Head).
According to , DP e-Services Deputy Manager, the customers are hungry for the e-Services. Unfortunately, the government units are not as reactive as private institutions in transforming services electronically due to the mentioned difficulties and challenges. As such, there is a growing need to work harder through thorough examination of possibilities and risks as well as exploration of reengineering processes and systems to come up with ways to implement the e-Government initiative.
Land Department (LD)
, LD Senior Web Architect, thought that the e-Government will serve the main hub as a central database of the Dubai government with collaborations between departments which is capable of resolving technical problems and not only a Portal that links every department to a central call centre and SMS services. The Government Resource Planning (GPR) project which aims to centralize the human resources management and financial services of the whole government only increased the work loads among the human resources and finance divisions of each department. The automation initiative of LD to transform these divisions electronically was put to waste when the department implemented and participated in the GPR project. This reflected the lack of futuristic vision among concerned individuals in the Head Office on the issues that govern the initiation of electronic transformation projects of the whole city government public services. But the openness to progress and development through technological advancement across the entire government administration should be highly credited in its goals to enhance and provide better services to the customers as well as importance of keeping up with modernization within each government department.
LD IT Centre Head, praised the government for the support it provides to the department for the completion of the e-Government initiative which modernized the public sector in the locality and which gained recognition internationally. He emphasized the subsequent need to market the e-Services of the government department to attain the set objectives of the government through increased public usage of the available online services in the portal. The visits made to LD by country representatives due to the department’s advances in online public services needs to be promoted through different media channels globally. The Dubai Excellence Award, the e-Government initiative, and the performance management systems employed across different government departments resulted to increased quality of public services and motivated each government organization under the Dubai administration to continue the development of the e-Services to create more efficient and convenient service transactions in the public sector.
The Executive Office (TEO)
The department is looking forward the subsequent need and activities to spread the awareness among the government sector of the importance of the e-Government initiative to improve the services provided to the public. Hopefully, the initiative towards performance measurement will start w3ithin government departments for the continuous improvement and development of the e-Transformation, to set more ambitious targets, and to conceptualize realistic plans. The departments’ decree to clarify issues helped us in establishing the indicators as effort from the internal administration started to take place defining the success of the project. Today, the vision is clearer as each department became enthusiastic about implementing the e-Government initiative across all the departments and at all levels. It will take some time to achieve the fulfilment of the project depending on the rate of awareness on the benefits of the e-Transformation. The international community has appreciated the local e-Government initiative upon realization that the project will result to efficient and improved policy-making procedures ().
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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