The Saudi Government In the Information Society

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The Saudi Government In the Information Society
Dr. Khaled AlSabti The ICT Minister's Advisor for
IT, and the E-Government Program General
Director 22-5-2005 ksabti_at_mcit.gov.sa
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• The Facts Base
• Area 2,240,000 square kilometers
• Population 22.6M
• GDP gt 250 B
• ICT Spending 30 of ME
• Gov. Org gt 350
• Public Sector labor gt 1.2 M
• No. of generic services gt 800
• No. of actual services gt 4,000

Saudi Arabia is under transformation towards the
Information Society
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The Saudi Arabia ICT Plan
The Vision ICT Production, Information
Society, and Digital Economy
7 Main Long-term Objectives E-Government is the
major vehicle for transforming the public sector
to the information society

• 5-year plan
• 26 specific goals
• 62 implementation policies
• 98 projects

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The Saudi Arabia ICT Vision
ICT Industry .... Information Society....
Digital Economy
Infra-structure
????? ???????? ???????????
Human development
Development of ICT industry
ICT Usage E-Government
Bridge digital divide
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The Information Society
The services can be brought to the customer.

• Moors Law More processing power.
• Gliders Law More bandwidth.
• Metcalfes Law More value.

The main resources are services, information, and
knowledge.
Moving towards decentralization.
More integration and interactions.
Less synchronization.
More Empowerment and participation.

• Sources
• The Third Wave, Alvan Tuffler, 1980
• Gartner, 2004,
• The speaker

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National ICT Scene. (To Present)
Not Exhaustive

• The launch of the national E-Government program
  Yesser
• Finalizing the national ICT plan
• The launch of the smart cards
• Internet Restructuring
• EasyNet
• Home PC Initiative

• Establishment of the ICT ministry and the
  expansion of the ICT commission

• Telecom Act
• Establishment of Telecomm Commission

• Establishment of Saudi Telecom Company (STC)

2004
2002
1999
1998
2001
2003
2005

• Drafting a national IT plan
• Drafting the e-transaction act
• The Launch of the e-payment gateway
• Liberalization of data and mobile
• New mobile licensee Ettihad Etisalat launches IPO

• Liberalization of ISP sector

• Issuance of Telecom Bylaw
• Launch of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of STC
• Liberalization of VSAT

The implementation of a large number of IT and
e-government projects
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Main Indicators
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The Saudi Approach
Facilitate....Yesser ???????
Unified Vision and Action Plan
Common Standards and practices
Coordinated Decentralized Approach
Shared Infrastructures
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National E-Government Program
Yesser.2005
Enabler and facilitator for transforming the
public sector to the information society
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The Strategic Objectives
Provide Better Services
Increase efficiency and effectiveness
Information availability
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The Grounding Principles
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It requires a continues support from the highest
authorities.
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It is a true transformation of the public sector
which brings a lot of change.
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It is mainly organization (Processes, culture,
people, etc).
4
It entails more coordination and integrations
across the organizations.
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It brings opportunity to focusing and
simplifications.
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The E-Government Models
High

• Integration of external data, standards,
  procedures

• Cross-departmental standardisation

No one-fits-all model for all coun-tries
Integrator
Complexity of model

• Two-way interaction (security, identifi-cation
  etc.)

Enabler
Communi- cator

• One-way display of information

Low
Internal change ability at single-dept. level
Ability to change across depts., standardize,
and integrate
Public/political ac- ceptance to take in- to
account/support business objectives on top of
public ones
Low
High
Source McKinsey
Prerequisites for implementation
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Yesser Hierarchy
The Supreme Supervisory Committee
- The Minister of Finance (MOF) - The Minister of
Communications and IT (MCIT) - The Governor of
the Communications and IT Commission (CITC)
The e-Government Committee in each
Government organization
The Advisory Group
The Steering Committee
Chaired by the Governor of CITC, VP by MOF-CIO,
and Representatives from MOF, MCIT, CITC
Program Directorate
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Yesser Role
Enabler and Facilitator
Gov. Org.
Methodologies
Gov. Org.
Gov. Org.
Knowledge
Data
Gov. Org.
Gov. Org.
Yesser
Gov. Org.
Gov. Org.
Standards
Gov. Org.
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Yesser Framework
Leadership Support
Change Management
E-Government Services eServices Portal Gov.
Organizations Sites
Skills
GRP, ERP Frame Agreements Best Practices IT
Management
Infrastructure
Policies, Standards, Acts
Egov. Network
PKI
National Strategy and Action Plan
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Yesser Work Plan
Two Tracks
Fast Track
Normal Track
High impact, Quick results, Relatively low cost

• Priorities, strategy, and action plan.
• Infrastructure, and standards,
• Gov. Org. implement their projects

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Current Yesser Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
Strategy and Action Plan

• The detailed implementation blueprint for the
  next five years. It includes
• Vision
• The goals and priorities
• Projects that must be implemented

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Planning
Portal

• Building the first phase of the national
  e-Government Portal with the following
  characteristics
• It is mainly informational at this stage
• Contains information about the G2B and G2C
  services
• Different content delivery channels will be used
  (Web, SMS, IVR, WAP)

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Informational
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Current Yesser Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
Surveying Gov. Services

• Surveying the government services along with
  relevant information. These includes G2C, G2B and
  G2G Services.
• Identified 800 unique services.
• Built Services Catalog for 150 (Scope, Delivery
  Location, How to obtain service etc.)

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Planning
E-Forms

• Apply the concept of electronic forms
  electronic workflow to typical and common G2G
  transactions using Barcodes or XML (for storing
  form content).
• More secure reliable than manual methods
• Increases efficiency

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Information exchange
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Current Yesser Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
PKI Center

• Build the national PKI management solution whose
  scope includes
• Issuing and managing the digital certificates
• Defining PKI regulations and policies
• Coordination between digital certificate
  authorities

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Infrastructure
EGov Data Center

• Build the e-Government Data Center to
• Host the national government services portal
• Support the e-government infrastructure
• Set foundation for building managing the
  e-Government network

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Infrastructure
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Current Yesser Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
The Acts and Bylaws directory

• Develop website to host all national acts,
  bylaws, and regulations, etc.
• Single central site for all these documents
• User-friendly interface with powerful rich-text
  searching capabilities

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Informational
Pilot Services

• Design a few pilot services, and support the
  implementation. The design phase includes
• Redesign of business processes (for these pilot
  services)
• Define their IT requirements
• Develop user adoption strategy

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Transaction
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Current Yesser Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
Setting Standards
Determine and Document the required standards
to support the E-Government action plan.
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Infrastructure
Frame Agreements
Formulate national frame agreements for the
most widely used IT solutions in the public
sector.
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Support
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Current Yesser Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
IT Management

• Develop Government IT Managers Best Practice
  Toolkit.
• Guidelines, standards, specifications
  best-practices.
• IT strategic planning, and project management
  best practices.

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Support
E-Government Magazine

• Issuing quarterly magazine which
• Identify and publicize the local success stories.
  
• Raise the awareness.
• Facility knowledge sharing.

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Change management
Build an e-directory for the government
organizations and the governmental IT centers.
Gov. Org. Directory
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Informational
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National Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
E-Payment Gateway Sadad

• Building the e-payments gateway to
• Facilitate G2B and B2B electronic payments.
• Include G2C in future.

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Infrastructure
The Smart Cards

• Issuing the national ID cards using the smart
  cards technology.
• Has computer chip for storing personal
  identification information, thumbprints, as well
  as medical and driving records.
• May also hold digital certificates.

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Infrastructure
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National Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
E-Umrah

• Facilitating the Umrah by
• Issuing Umrah Visas within 24 hours.
• Integrating the Hajj, Foreign Affairs and
  Interior ministries.
• Fully operational worldwide (via Umrah agents)

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Min.of Hajj
Transactions
Saudi EDI (E-Trade)

• Support International Import/Export processes.
• Covers complete workflow (Customs, General
  Organization of Ports, cargo customs clearance
  agents etc.)
• It can speed up the process by a factor of 7
• It can cut down the cost by half

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Transaction
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National Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
The Madinah E-Government Project

• The Municipality of Almadinah Almunawwarah portal
  (www.almadinah.gov.sa) offers
• G2B services
• G2C services

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Transaction Informational
MOI Portal

• Building the citizen portal.
• Provide 20 services electronically. These
  include passport, birth certificate, drivers
  license, etc.
• Build 100 kiosks

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Transactions
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National Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
E-MOF

• Build the e-ministry by
• Providing the MOF services electronically
• Automating the MOF processes in an integrated
  manner
• Connecting all the MOF branches

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Transaction
Home PC

• National initiative led by the CITC and MCIT, and
  executed by the private sector.
• The citizen to buy the home PC by a monthly
  installment (100 SR) for two years. The total
  cost is 2600 SR
• Free internet access for a limited time
• Discounted training

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Infrastructure, Change management
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National Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
E-Tax

• Develop a system that enables
• E-filling
• E-payment
• Accessing the records database

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Transaction
Invest-In-Saudi Portal

• It is informational portal at this stage with
  content (in five international languages)
  describing
• Investment climate in Saudi Arabia
• Investment incentives and opportunities
• Matchmaking options for joint venture projects

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Informational
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National Projects
Not Exhaustive
Project
Description
E-Awards
Conduct a yearly e-award to promote and
recognize local initiative, innovation and
contribution.
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Change Management
CIO Posts
Advocating the establishment of CIO in
each government organization at the second
management level.
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Governance
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The Saudi Statues
Not Exhaustive

• E-Umrah
• Sadad
• E-Trade
• E-Tax

• Other Projects
• Egov action plan
• CIOs posts
• Egov data center
• PKI center
• Smart cards
• Home PC
• Egov Standards
• E-Awards
• E-Transaction Act
• E-Crime Act
• 2 Mobile operators
• 3 Data services providers
• 20 ISPs
• EasyNet (Free Internet)

• E-MOF
• E-Forms
• e-licensing for investment
• E-Visa
• Paying traffic ticket
• Paying passport fees
• Paying Utilities Bill
• Kayas (SAT) registration and grades
• Enquires U. grades

Complexity of model
Integrator

• The Madinah Portal
• MOI Portal
• Pilot Services

• The national portal-Phase I
• The invest-In-Saudi portal
• Gov. org. web sites
• Services Forms
• Acts and Bylaws site
• Gov. Org. Dir.

Enabler
Communi- cator
Prerequisites for implementation
Operational
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Saudi Arabia is under transformation towards the
information society...... E-Government is the
major vehicle for transforming the public sector
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For More Information.. www.saudi.gov.sa www.yess
er.gov.sa
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