AME Info  April 19, 2008  

United Arab Emirates: As an integral component of the Abu Dhabi Policy Agenda, the plan builds on ADSIC achievements to date in fundamentally transforming the manner in which its Abu Dhabi government operates and delivers services to its customer base covering citizens, residents and businesses.

This emerging IT-driven transformation is the targeted outcome of a program launched in 2006 by the Abu Dhabi Government under the wise council and direction of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Executive Council, to improve service delivery, expand service availability and increase governmental efficiency.

With the vision to realize 'A High Performance Government Delivering World Class Services to the Benefit of All Its Customers', ADSIC - the entrusted 'CIO' of the Abu Dhabi Government - is strategically positioned to fulfil 4 roles.

These cover being an 'authority' on IT policies and standards, an 'enabler' of technology and infrastructure projects for government modernization initiatives, an 'innovator' to position Abu Dhabi as a leader in government modernization both regionally and globally, and lastly, an 'educator' to foster IT literacy and create awareness for the potential and benefits of automation.

ADSIC is harnessing Abu Dhabi's leadership support of and commitment to the Initiative and the cooperation and collaboration with Abu Dhabi Government Entities to be the driving force for government services modernization, delivering significant improvements in service levels for citizens, businesses, residents, government employees and government entities through IT and streamlined customer-centric processes.

To fulfil Abu Dhabi Government vision outlined in the Policy Agenda, ADSIC has adopted an internationally recognized framework for formulating and implementing a comprehensive e-Government Strategy - the Environment-Readiness-Usage (E-R-U) framework.

ADSIC's 5-year strategic plan is derived from this comprehensive strategy and encompasses over 75 projects across the E-R-U dimensions.

Some of these projects are already operational and available to all customers, such as the Abu Dhabi Government Portal (www.abudhabi.ae), the Government Contact Centre (800-555), and an electronic Land Management System at the Abu Dhabi Municipality.

An IT Architecture and Standards reference document to foster common standards across all Abu Dhabi Government Entities and ease integration of their respective usage services to the government portal platform has also been developed, with a second release near completion.

Enhancing IT skills of government employees to use and benefit from the e-Government modernization provisions has been of paramount importance as well with over 4,000 civil servants trained to date.

These achievements exemplify the strategic plan themes of government responsiveness, high performance, improved government and improved society.

'Recognizing that environment and readiness projects are essential pre-requisites for usage projects, ADSIC's strategy is initially more focused on implementations in these 2 dimensions in the first couple of years, with focus shifting to the usage dimension there after,' commented HE Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, ADSIC Chairman. 'This systematic approach will allow us to effectively realize the transformation of government into a more efficient, responsive and performing government which is at the heart of the ADSIC Strategic Plan,' he added.

Going forward, ADSIC will pursue development and implementation of additional government modernization projects as outlined in its strategic plan in collaboration with concerned Abu Dhabi Government Entities.

A few examples of these projects include a virtual job market to facilitate recruitment and employment services, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) shared services for the Abu Dhabi Government Entities, and a one-stop-shop business centre for all commercial licensing activities.