e-government program kingdom of saudi...

The National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan

e-Government Program

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

May 2006

2

The National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan YESSER

Contents

Preface 4

Executive Summary 6

I. Introduction 11

II. The e-Government Strategy 16

2.1 Vision 16

2.2 Objectives 18

III. The Government E-Services 21

3.1 Better e-Services as the Goal of e-Government Initiatives 21

3.2 Different e-Government Models and the Saudi Choice 23

3.3 Prioritization of Saudi e-Services 27

IV. The e-Government Framework for the Period 2006-2010 32

4.1 The Different Components of the Framework and the Projects 32

4.2 How the Projects Fulfill the Objectives 38

4.3 Priorities and Sequencing 40

V. Roles and Responsibilities of the Implementation

Organizations 43

5.1 Governance 44

5.2 Funding Mechanisms 47

5.3 Change Management 51

VI. The e-Government Action Plan Projects 54

6.1 e-Services Projects 54

6.2 National Application Projects 55

6.3 Infrastructure Projects 56

6.4 Timeline 59

VII. Estimated budget 60

7.1 Introduction 60

7.2 Budget Overview 61

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Appendix A: e-Services Projects

A-1 Category 1: The Pilot e-Services Projects 63

A-2 Category 2 E-Services Projects 101

A-3 Category 3 e-Services Projects 108

Appendix B: National Applications Projects

B-1 e-Procurement 113

B-2 Government Correspondences 116

B-3 Government Databases 119

Appendix A: Infrastructure Projects

C-1 e-Government Network 123

C-2 Integration Infrastructure 125

C-3 e-Government Portal 131

C-4 Intranet Portal 132

C-5 E-Services Shared Data 133

C-6 Interoperability Framework 135

4


Preface

e-Government is the vehicle that is proven to have expedited the rapid and

efficient transformation of the public sectors to an information society around the

world. Among the many reasons why pioneer countries embraced e-Government

are the increased effectiveness and efficiency, increased productivity of the public

sector; improved quality of government services provided to citizens, residents

and to the business sector, which inevitably led to economic growth and improved

gross domestic product.

Undoubtedly, the majestic Royal Decree referenced 7/B/33181 came as a direct

reflection of the ever increasing nurture the Saudi government contributes upon all

aspects of life, and to retain a sustainable prosperity through the formulation of a

national plan that enables conducting government services and transactions

electronically.

The Saudi e-Government initiative was brought to existence as a cornerstone in

the National Communications and Information Technology Plan, which was

prepared at the commencement of the year 1426H (2005). Jointly formulated, the

e-Government program was a result of a strategic alliance with the Ministry of

Finance and the Communications and Information Technology Commission, as

well as a direct contribution from all government agencies.

The national strategy and action plan is therefore, a ripe outcome of this initiative

as a roadmap towards the implementation of e-Government activities and to set the

stage for the transformation of the public sector to an information society. The

plan includes the vision, objectives and national priorities, and suggests the

appropriate execution model best suited to Saudi Arabia. It also lays out e-

Services‟ projects, various national applications, and national infrastructure

projects for the coming five years. It also specifies roles and responsibilities,

funding mechanisms and estimated budgets necessary for the successful

deployment of this initiative. The Saudi e-Government implementation model

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embraced a coordinated-decentralize approach as its guiding principle; this implies

that government agencies will take the lead in the implementation of their

respective e-Government projects.

The preparation of this plan relied on the participation of all stakeholders, through

workshops, visits and field surveys. International benchmarking on the other hand

was conducted whenever needed.

Finally, I take this opportunity to ask ALLAH the Almighty to bless all the efforts

exerted in this promising initiative and to ease the forthcoming implementation

stages, which heavily require the sincere and devoted efforts of all government

agencies to achieve the ultimate objective, God Willing.

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology

Eng. Mohammed Jameel Bin Ahmed Mulla

6


Executive Summary

The national e-Government initiative, a component of the National Information

and Communication Technology Plan (NICTP), was launched as part of the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's effort to introduce Information Society to the country.

The focus of the initiative is not information technology but bringing about major

benefits for the country by:

Providing better government services to individuals, businesses and

government users, thus raising satisfaction with government services and

increasing quality of life.

Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector, thus

decreasing cost, increasing productivity, creating a more business-friendly

environment and leading to economic growth and higher Gross Domestic

Product.

Spreading information, knowledge and use of e-services, thus contributing to

the establishment of an information society in Saudi Arabia and supporting

society's advancement.

The initiative follows a coordinated decentralized approach and is led by the

YESSER Program, whose role is that of an enabler and facilitator of the individual

e-government projects that will be implemented by various government agencies.

The YESSER Program has investigated the current status of e-government in the

country by surveying e-government projects already under way and conducted an

extensive benchmarking effort of 20 countries' e-government initiatives. On basis

of this work, the YESSER Program has developed a first five-year National e-

Government Strategy and Action Plan, which consists of the following elements:

Vision and objectives.

E-government model to be followed during the initiative.

Framework for components of the e-government initiative.

Organization of the initiative.

Projects to be implemented during the first National e-Government Strategy

and Action Plan.

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Budget for the first National Action Plan.

The vision for Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative is user-centric, focuses on

providing better government services to the user (i.e., individuals, businesses and

government agencies) and is summarized by the following vision statement: "By

the end of 2010, everyone in the Kingdom will be able to enjoy – from anywhere

and at any time – world-class government services offered in a seamless, user-

friendly and secure way by utilizing a variety of electronic means." The vision is

further detailed by 10 specific objectives that are to be achieved by the

implementation of the initiative and address three themes: providing better

services, increasing efficiency and effectiveness and contributing to the country's

prosperity.

The e-government model to be followed during the initiative is the "Integrator"

model. In this model, the goal of providing better government services to the user

is achieved by putting the user at the center of all services and thinking of

government as a service provider for a customer. To achieve this end, services or

groups of services, usually involving more than one government agency, are

integrated across the agencies involved. The user can thus have a one-stop-shop

experience when using the service or groups of services in question, instead of

having to contact all agencies involved one after the other and having to identify

himself and enter the same data several times. Since the Integrator model

integrates services across various government agencies, its complexity is high.

Implementing it will require the ability to change not only internally within one

agency but also in coordination with other government agencies, and the

willingness to standardize, integrate and share data.

The framework the e-government initiative has five components:

(i) a vision and objectives component to guide the initiative, as described above.

(ii) an e-services component to put into place world class user-centric

government services.

(iii) a national application component to provide major cross-departmental

applications as a catalyst for increasing efficiency and effectiveness.

(iv) an infrastructure component to build a strong and reliable infrastructure for

enabling e-services and national applications.

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(v) an organization component both to provide an appropriate governance and

funding model and to address change management issues.

The components (ii)-(iv) consist of a number of specific projects, which are

described below.

The organization of the initiative has three elements:

(i) Governance: As mentioned, the YESSER Program will lead the initiative as a

facilitator and enabler. Moreover, it will be responsible for implementing the

projects of the infrastructure component. However, other government

agencies are an indispensable part of the initiative as they will implement the

projects of the e-services component and the national application projects.

Further, they are responsible for effective coordination with the YESSER

Program, e.g., in the coordination of the infrastructure projects.

(ii) Funding mechanisms: There are three different funding mechanisms for the

national e-government initiative: full central funding, central co-funding and

funding based on private-public-partnerships (PPP). The first two of these

mechanisms require the establishment of a National e-Government Fund,

out of which the initial e-services projects, the national application projects

and the infrastructure projects will be funded fully. Later e-services projects

will be funded partially by this fund and partially by individual government

agencies' budgets. Further, some of the projects mentioned may be an option

for PPP-based funding.

(iii) Change management: Introduction of a national e-government initiative

requires a substantial change management initiative. This initiative will be

coordinated by YESSER and comprises a public awareness campaign, a

government communication plan and public and government e-skills training

programs.

The projects to be implemented under the first National e-Government Strategy

and Action Plan are structured along the components of the e-government

framework described above:

e-services component: This component contains 6 Category 1 pilot e-

services, 20 Category 2 e-services projects and 124 Category 3 e-services

projects, all aiming at redesigning, e-enabling and implementing improved

government services.

9


National application component: This component comprises three major

government-wide applications: e-procurement, to implement a government-

wide electronic purchasing platform; government databases, to make

available data already stored in several government databases; government

correspondence, to implement a government-wide system for electronic

exchange of messages and documents.

Infrastructure component: This component contains several different

projects: e-government network, to implement a network infrastructure and

set standards for data exchange; integration infrastructure, to implement an

integration bus, shared services (user authentication, user authorization,

payment gateway) and user interaction toolkit; e-government portal, to offer a

single point of access to e-services and information about them; intranet

portal, to offer a single point of access to internal government services and

information; e-services shared data, to facilitate data sharing between

government agencies; and an interoperability framework, to define common

standards and protocols for data exchange

The projects mentioned have different priority and should be implemented in the

following order: Category 1 pilot services and infrastructure projects during the

first phase of the program (12-18 months); Category 2 services and national

application projects during the second phase of the program (12-18 months),

Category 3 services in the following three years. The exhibit below depicts the

various government projects and their implementation sequence.

10


The budget required for implementing the projects of the first National e-

Government Strategy and Action Plan has been arrived at by a combination of a

bottom-up and a top-down analyses and amounts to a total of SAR 3,045 million

over the first five years of the program. Given that the annual average e-

government budget amounts to, roughly, 0.2 percent of the annual national budget,

the investment will justify itself if

It helps government agencies to save, on average, 0.2 percent of their annual

budget

It achieves a positive effect on the business environment, resulting in

economic growth and a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Some of the projects of the first National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan

may be funded by means of private-public-partnerships (PPP), thus decreasing the

budget needed.

PRIORITIES OF PROJECTS AND IMPLEMENTATION SEQUENCE

* Implementation of e - services projects has a 12 months pilot phase (Horizon 1) and a full redesign phase of several years (Horizon 2), which is indicated by the dotted line; likewi se, implementation of infrastructure projects has a 1 st phase to enable Category 1/pilot e - services and national application projects and a 2 nd phase providing user interaction toolkits for Category 2 and 3 e - services projects (see also below, Section VI “ The E - government Action Plan Projects ” )

Source: Yesser

Priority 2 projects

E - services projects: Category 2 projects *

National application projects

Priority 3 projects

E - services projects: Category 3 services projects

Priority 1 projects

E - services projects: Category 1 or pilot services projects*

Projects

Infrastructure projects*

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

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I. Introduction

1.1 Overview

Saudi Arabia is currently undergoing a transformation into an Information Society.

The roadmap for this transformation is described in the country's National ICT

plan. As a one of its major components, the National ICT plan contains an e-

government initiative, which was launched in 2005 and is led by the YESSER

Program. The goal of the initiative is to introduce e-government – i.e., the

provision of government services by electronic means – to the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia. The primary focus of the initiative is not on purchasing information

technology, but on providing better government services – be it services to

individuals (citizens and expatriates), to businesses or to government agencies –

and on increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector.

The improved and e-enabled government services (in some cases, possibly even

new services) identified by the initiative will be implemented in a coordinated

decentralized approach by individual ministries and other government agencies,

i.e., the natural owners of these services. The implementation of improved e-

government services will, however, be based on a unified e-government vision,

national priorities and shared standards and methodologies identified by the

YESSER Program with the participation of the government agencies. Further, the

coordinated decentralized implementation of the e-government initiative will

follow the principle of "Develop once, use many times" as much as possible.

The YESSER Program's role in Saudi's e-government initiative is therefore that of

an enabler and facilitator: it will enable the implementation of individual e-

government services by ministries and other government agencies by building the

national infrastructure and defining common standards which these agencies can

use, and it will facilitate their use by providing best practice examples and

supporting the implementation of pilot services and by ensuring an appropriate

level of coordination and collaboration between the implementing agencies.

The role of the YESSER Program, as well as the guiding principles for the

initiative mentioned above are shown in overview in Exhibit 1.

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Exhibit 1

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND THE ROLE OF THE YESSER PROGRAM

Source: Yesser

► E-government is not focused on

technology, but on providing better

services and increasing efficiency and

effectiveness of the public sector

► Better services will be implemented in a

coordinated decentralized approach by

individual ministries and other

government agencies

► Provision and implementation of better

services will

Be based on a unified vision, national

priorities and common standards and

methodologies

Follow the principle of “Develop once,

use many times” as much as possible

Guiding principles for Saudi-Arabia„s

e-government initiative

Saudi Arabia„s national

e-government initiative is

facilitated by the Yesser

program whose role is to

• Enable implementation of

better services in

individual ministries and

other government

agencies

• Ensure appropriate level

of coordination between

these ministries and

agencies

Role of Yesser program

In order to drive Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative forward, the YESSER

Program has developed a first National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan,

which is to be implemented within the next five years. This plan is described in

this document and its contents are summarized at the end of this section. To put

the plan in context, however, it may be helpful to explain how Saudi Arabia's e-

government initiative and the first National e-Government Strategy and Action

Plan are related to e-government activities inside and outside of Saudi Arabia.

1.2 Key Learnings from Other Countries

In preparation for the first National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan, the

YESSER Program conducted an extensive benchmarking effort, in which it

studied 20 countries from all over the world. These countries included leading e-

government countries, countries from the region and countries in a situation

similar to that of Saudi Arabia. This benchmarking effort produced 17 key

learnings as shown in Exhibit 2:

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Exhibit 2

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. KEY LEARNINGS FROM BENCHMARKING 20 COUNTRIES

Source: Yesser

1. The vision statement

needs to be user-centred

and focused on the goal of

providing better services to

the user; specific

objectives are needed to

detail the vision

2. E-government facilitates

transformation into an

information society

3. The e-government champ-

ion is often the Head of

State and commits openly

to the program

4. E-government initiatives

require substantial funding

to be successful

5. A dedicated and influential

office is needed to

implement e-government

6. Opposition to e-government

from inside government is

to be expected

7. Redesign of processes is

a must before automating

them

8. Government-to-Citizen and

Government-to-Business

portals are organized

around user-centred events

9. Laws „legalizing‟ e-

transactions are necessary

for user adoption

Implementation

10. Projects and quick-wins

need to be publicized

11. Successful pilot projects

have to address a wide

audience

12. Multiple contact channels

are needed for IT-illiterate

& remote parts of population

13. Secure privacy, authoriz-

ation and e-payments must

be provided

14. Public private partnerships

can be conducive in e-pro-

curement, e-payment & IT

15. Citizens need to be proact-

ively asked for feedback

16. Awareness and skills issues

have to be addressed

through a change

management initiative

17. E-government implement-

ation is difficult and slow in

several countries

Vision &

Objectives

Organization &

Planning

These key learnings derived from benchmarking constitute the background against

which the First National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan was developed.

They guided the formulation of the vision and objectives for Saudi Arabia's e-

government initiative, the development of the framework to be used, the choice

and design of individual projects to be implemented and the organizational set-up

of the initiative, all to be discussed below.

1.3 Integration of Current Saudi e-Government Initiatives

Currently, there are already a number of successful e-government initiatives under

way in Saudi Arabia and real progress has already been made. Naturally, the first

National e-Government and Action Plan needs to integrate these initiatives already

under way and may capitalize on them. These include initiatives that deliver

supporting functions for the implementation of projects identified in the first

National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan, such as SADAD (the national e-

payment gateway) by SAMA or the Smart Cards initiative by the Ministry of

Interior (which issues national ID cards with an electronic chip storing personal

information, e.g., on identity and health issues). These also include initiatives that

have already started to implement specific e-government projects, such as the e-

14


Umrah project by the Ministry of Hajj or the Ministry of Interior portal project.

Moreover, these can be initiatives that lay the legal groundwork for e-transactions

in general, such as the e-transaction act, the e-crimes act and the e-government

implementation rules currently under consideration for approval. The YESSER

Program will ensure outreach and coordination between these initiatives and the

national e-government initiative and will put a mechanism in place for sharing best

practice knowledge.

1.4 The Structure of the 1st National e-Government Strategy and

Action Plan

The remainder of this document describes the first National e-Government

Strategy and Action Plan. It is structured as follows:

The next section, Section II, describes the e-government strategy, the

vision and objectives, which serve as a basis for the provision of the

government e-services and for the implementation of all projects identified

in the first National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan.

Section III explains in more detail what is meant by government e-

services, why they are the focus of any successful e-government initiative

around the world, how they can be classified, how they should be

prioritized and what common data they require.

Section IV describes the e-government framework defined for the Saudi

Arabian e-government initiative as the basis for implementation of

government e-services, including the different components of the

framework and the various projects supporting the components and the

way in which these projects fulfil the objectives of the initiative and their

timing in order of priority.

Section V discusses the role of the YESSER Program and of the

implementation organizations (already briefly characterized above) in the

realisation of these projects.

Section VI describes the projects of the first National e-Government

Strategy and Action Plan themselves, specifically, e-services projects,

national application projects and infrastructure projects.

15


Section VII presents the budget needed to implement the projects, both in

overview as well as the breakdown for each individual project, while

describing the funding mechanism for these projects and the role of the

private sector in financing and implementing them.

Appendix A describes category 1, category 2 and category 3 projects.

Appendix B describes the 3 National Application projects.

Appendix C describes the 6 Infrastructure projects.

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II. The e-Government Strategy

2.1 VISION

The vision for Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative is user-centric and focuses

on a number of aspects that all revolve around the central notion already

mentioned, i.e., providing better government services to the user. As mentioned

before, users are understood here as individuals (citizens and expatriates),

businesses and government agencies. The user-centric vision for Saudi Arabia's e-

government initiative is summarized by the following vision statement:

Vision statement for Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative

By the end of 2010, everyone in the Kingdom will be able to enjoy – from

anywhere and at any time – world-class government services offered in a

seamless, user-friendly and secure way by utilizing a variety of electronic

means.

The ideas behind this vision can be explained as follows:

The defined users should in principle be able to access government

services independently from where they happen to live or work (cities or

countryside), from inside and outside the country, and practically at any

time convenient to them.

The needs and wishes of the users as to how a government service is to be

administered should also guide the initiative with respect to improving or

e-enabling the services, i.e., in transforming the services from traditional

ones to e-services. In short, e-government and e-services should be user-

centered and driven by user demand.

The e-services themselves should be provided to the users in a seamless

and integrated way, which, for example, should not involve the need to

contact several government agencies to access one single service. On the

contrary, all requirements for obtaining a service should be transparently

integrated and administered through one point of contact and the same data

should be provided by the user only once.

17


The user should also be able to access government e-services through a

broad variety of electronic means, such as Internet, kiosks, IVRs and

mobile phones (SMS); and in all such electronic interactions with the user,

government agencies administering services should maintain the highest

possible standard of security.

Finally, the first National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan should

be implemented within the next five years, i.e., before the end of 2010.

This five-year horizon is intended to boost motivation to achieve the goals

defined and ensure timely delivery of the identified projects.

These ideas just described as well as the vision statement for Saudi Arabia's e-

government initiative are summarized in Exhibit 3:

Exhibit 3

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes.

“By the end of 2010,

everyone in the Kingdom

will be able to enjoy –

from anywhere and at

any time – world class

government services

offered in a seamless,

user friendly and secure

way by utilizing a variety

of electronic means.”

VISION STATEMENT FOR SAUDI-ARABIA‟S E-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE

Timeline needed to

boost motivation and

ensure timely delivery

Key belief of

“e-government must

be driven by user

demand”

Goal of providing services

at the highest standard of

security

Goal of providing servi-

ces to everyone in the

country (i.e., city and

countryside, citizens,

business and expatriates)

Goal of providing access

to services from every-

where inside and even

outside the country (e.g.,

expatriates)

Goal of providing servi-

ces through electronic

means such as internet,

kiosks, IVRs and mobile

phones (SMS)

Goal of providing access

to services at any time

(“24/7”)

Goal of providing

services to the user in an

integrated and seamless

way

Objective of providing

better services

Source: Yesser

The vision for Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative was arrived at by using a

variety of sources:

First, two relevant strategic documents already available were taken into

account, i.e., Saudi Arabia's National ICT Plan and the World Bank's

strategic vision for e-government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

18


Second, the objectives already defined for the YESSER Program were

taken into consideration

Third, the e-government visions of 20 countries (investigated during the

benchmarking effort mentioned before) were used as a basis

And, finally, feedback on the current e-government development stage of

the Kingdom from a variety of sources was used as a crosscheck, including

learnings from citizen, business user surveys conducted and results of an e-

readiness assessment carried out with respect to the most important

government agencies and interviews and workshops held with experts and

stakeholders.

2.2 OBJECTIVES

The vision for Saudi's e-government initiative, described in the previous

subsection, is further detailed by 10 objectives which are to be achieved by the

implementation of the initiative. These objectives are divided into three groups: 1)

Providing better services by the end of 2010, 2) Increasing internal efficiency and

effectiveness and 3) Contributing to the country‟s prosperity.

Providing better services by the end of 2010

This first group of objectives is directly related to the vision of providing better

government services to citizens, expatriates, businesses and government agencies.

The objectives of this group are:

1. Provide the top-priority services (150) at a world-class level of quality

electronically.

2. Deliver services in a seamless and user-friendly way and at highest

standards of security.

3. Make services available to everyone in the Kingdom and allow 24/7

access from cities as well as countryside and even outside the country.

4. Achieve a 75% adoption rate with respect to the number of users.

5. Ensure an 80% user satisfaction rating for all services provided

electronically.

19


Objectives 1 through 3 specify the number of services to be e-enabled, demand a

world-class level of quality for them, mandate delivery in a seamless, user-friendly

and secure way and require the services to be available to everyone on a 24-hour

basis, from everywhere inside and outside the country. Objectives 4 and 5 specify

that the e-enabled services should, by the end of 2010, be adopted by at least 75%

of the users, who should give an 80% satisfaction rating as feedback for these

services.

Increasing internal efficiency and effectiveness

This second group of objectives is indirectly related to the vision of providing

better services by specifying objectives which, if achieved, will strongly raise

government efficiency and effectiveness in general. By improving the back-office

performance of agencies administering services, the agencies themselves will

greatly increase productivity and be in a better position to provide world-class

services to the users. The objectives of this group are:

6. Deliver all possible official intra-governmental communication in a

paperless way.

7. Ensure accessibility of all information needed across government agencies

and storage of information with as little redundancy as possible.

8. Purchase all goods and services above a reasonable value threshold

through e-procurement.

Objectives 6 through 8 specify that all intra-governmental communication should,

if possible, be delivered in a paperless way, that information needed across

government agencies should be accessible and stored with as little redundancy as

possible and that all goods and services above a reasonable value should, by the

end of 2010, be purchased through e-procurement.

Contributing to the country's prosperity

Finally, the third group of objectives is related to a broader goal of the e-

government initiative, namely to contribute to the country's prosperity overall. The

objectives of this group are:

20


9. Contribute to the establishment of the information society in the Kingdom

by spreading information, knowledge and the use of e-services

10. Help improve the use of the country‟s assets and resources by increasing

society‟s productivity in the private, business and public sectors.

A contribution to the country's prosperity will thus be achieved by helping to

establish the information society in the Kingdom and by helping to improve the

use of the country's assets and resources.

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III. The Government

E-Services

3.1 BETTER E-SERVICES AS THE GOAL OF E-GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES

The primary goal of any successful e-government initiative around the world is to

provide better government services to the user, i.e., to citizens, expatriates,

businesses and government agencies. Furthermore, in many e-government

initiatives, increasing government effectiveness and efficiency and thereby raising

productivity as well as return on investment of the country's assets and resources

also play an important role. But these goals should be regarded secondary and

rather as means of reaching the primary goal – namely serving government's

customers in a better way. This primary goal of any successful e-government

initiative is also reflected in the vision statement for Saudi Arabia's e-government

initiative as described in the previous section.

The services offered by the government can be divided – according to the user

served –into three groups:

Government-to-Citizen or G2C services: Services offered to individuals

(including expatriates), e.g., employment service, university admission and

residency permit

Government-to-Business or G2B services: Services offered to

businesses, e.g., commercial registration, work permits and restaurant

license

Government-to-Government or G2G services: Services offered to

government agencies, such as payment orders and government employee

promotion service. These services differ from the previous two as they are

not for end users, but to make the government function better overall.

For any of these three kinds of services, the goal of providing better government

services to the user is achieved by putting the user at the center of all services and

thinking of government as a service provider for a customer. Thus, whereas in

22


traditional governmental administration, everything is seen to revolve around the

agency or government official administering the service, in e-government the

relation is reversed and everything revolves around the user of the government

service in question (see Exhibit 4).

Exhibit 4

E-GOVERNMENT PUTS THE USER OF GOVERNMENT SERVICES AT THE

CENTER

Government traditionally follows an

administration-centric approach

E-government focuses on user-centric

government services

• User manages

interactions with

multiple

government

agencies

• Lengthy service

times for users

at high cost to

government

agencies

• Redundancy

and confusion

from little coord-

ination across

government

agencies

MinistryMinistry 33

Ministry 1Ministry 1



• One-stop shop

organized

around users‟

needs

• Faster service

times for users

at lower cost

for government

agencies

• Streamlined

and coordin-

ated processes

across

government

agencies

Min.Min.

44

Min. Min.

22

Min. Min.

11

Min. Min.

33

Source: Yesser

This focus on user- or customer-centricity (instead of intra-governmental

processes and procedures) brings with it a variety of changes. The reason for this

is that the existing government services need to be redesigned to make them more

accessible, faster and more convenient to the user – before “putting them online”.

Just concentrating on IT solutions or e-enabling existing services as-is will not be

sufficient to achieve the goal.

The aspects of change, introduced by the need to redesign existing services,

involve, among other things:

Changes in the processes and procedures of administering services,

which is called process reengineering.

Changes in the behaviour of both end users and government agencies and

their employees which administer services.

23


Increased need for cooperation and coordination between government

agencies involved in administering services.

Establishment of new channels through which the user accesses services.

In some cases, changes of specific laws or policies regulating the

administration of services.

All these aspects of change have to be managed in order to make the introduction

of an e-government initiative to a country successful and require strong

institutional support and political leadership from government decision makers.

3.2 DIFFERENT E-GOVERNMENT MODELS AND THE SAUDI

CHOICE

Providing better services to the user has different aspects and comes in different

degrees that correspond to four different kinds of e-government models followed

around the world. The four models are shown in overview in Exhibit 5, which also

mentions some examples and already highlights the proposed Saudi choice. The

models will be explained in more detail below.

Exhibit 5

ASPIRATION FOR SAUDI ARABIA IS TO EVOLVE INTO

INTEGRATOR MODEL OVER TIME

Description

Service

example

(driver‟s

license

renewal)

Country

examples

Different

models

Individual

department

transactions

placed online

Renew driver‟s

license online at

Department of

Motor Vehicles

portal

• Maryland, USA

• Virginia, USA

Enabler

Comprehensive

government

service offering

that integrates

across depart-

ments to better

serve users

Renew driver‟s

license, pay

traffic tickets,

and make an

appointment

for emissions

inspection at

“My Car” site

• Singapore

• Australia

• UK

Integrator

Comprehensive

government

service offering

used as a

platform for

commercial

services

Renew driver‟s

license and

apply for car

insurance or

automobile

financing at “My

Car” site

• Hong Kong

Grower

Source: Yesser

Aspiration for

Saudi Arabia

Online

information

about govern-

ment services

and their

requirements

Instructions on

where and how

to renew

driver‟s license

• Majority of

governments

Communicator

24


Communicator

Description: In this model, currently followed by the majority of

governments around the world, only information about government

services and their requirements is provided to the user.

Channels: The user can, in principle, access this information through a

variety of channels, such as Internet portal, IVRs and mobile phones

(SMSs). Which channel is most appropriate may vary from service to

service. Regarding the special case of the Internet portal, usually the

information is made available through a central governmental portal, but it

is also possible – albeit less user-friendly – to provide it only decentrally

through various websites of individual government agencies.

Complexity/requirements: Since this model just provides a one-way

display of information, its degree of complexity is low and it requires only

some internal change ability from the government agency providing the

information in question.

Enabler

Description: In this model, in addition to providing information about

government services and their requirements, some services, which involve

only one government agency, are administered electronically and a full

transaction of the service can be made by the user.

Channels: Again, this may involve various access channels with the

choice of channel dependent on the service to be e-enabled. Regarding the

Internet portal, usually the service is delivered through the portal of the

government agency administering the service, but it can also be made

accessible – and more convenient for the user – through a central

government portal.

Complexity/requirements: Since this model makes possible two-way

electronic interaction between government and user (involving, e.g.,

identification and security issues), it has higher complexity and requires a

much greater ability for internal change, plus, to some degree (especially if

service transactions are possible through a central government portal), the

ability and willingness to standardize across agencies (e.g., for payment).

25


Integrator

Description: In this model, services or groups of services, usually

involving more than one government agency, are integrated across the

agencies involved. The user can thus have a one-stop shop for the service

or groups of services in question, instead of having to contact all agencies

involved one after the other, possibly having to identify himself and enter

the same data several times.

Channels: As before, this may involve various channels with service-

dependent choice of channel. Regarding the Internet portal, services can be

administered either through a central government portal or – less

conveniently for the user – through various portals of individual

government agencies involved (which may be accessed through the central

government portal).

Complexity/requirements: Since this model integrates across services of

various government agencies, its complexity is very high and it requires

the ability to change not only internally within one agency but also in

coordination with other government agencies as well as the willingness to

standardize, integrate and share data.

Grower

Description: In this model, government services are combined with

private sector services and a combination of both is offered to the user

Channels: As with the other three models, this may involve various

channels with service-dependent choice of channel. Regarding the Internet

portal, the services may be offered, as before, either through a central

government portal or decentrally through a government agency's portal

Complexity/requirements: Since this model combines government and

private sector services, it has the highest complexity, involving the need to

integrate government-external data, standards and procedures and

requiring, in particular, public and political acceptance to take into account

business objectives on top of public ones.

26


The different degrees of complexity as well as the different prerequisites for

implementation of the four models are shown in overview in Exhibit 6:

Exhibit 6

DIFFERENT E-GOVERNMENT MODELS HAVE DIFFERENT DEGREES

OF COMPLEXITY AND PREREQUISITES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Prerequisites

for implementation

Low High

Low

High

Complexity

of model

Communi-

cator

Enabler

Integrator

GrowerIntegration of

external data,

standards,

procedures

Cross-

departmental

standardisation

Two-way inter-

action (security,

identification etc.)

Internal

change abil-

ity at single-

dept. level

Ability to change

across depts.,

standardize,

integrate and

share data

Public/political

accept. to sup-

port business

objectives on

top of public‟s

One-way display

of information

Aspiration

for Saudi

Arabia

Source: Yesser

The Saudi choice

The aspiration for Saudi Arabia‟s e-government initiative is – as for most e-

government initiatives around the world – to evolve over time into the Integrator

model. The Grower model is currently being followed only by very few countries,

primarily because of the fear of mixing government and business interests.

However, given the fact that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is still at the beginning

of its e-government initiative, it should start not with trying to do everything at

once and jumping directly to the Integrator model. Instead, it should begin with a

combination of the first three models and move gradually towards the Integrator

model:

Communicate: Regarding the communication to the user of information

about government services and their requirements, the goal should consist

in providing this information for all relevant government services offered

by the various government agencies through (a) a central e-government

27


portal for services for government-external users and (b) through an

Intranet portal for services restricted to government users.

Enable: Regarding the enablement of users to perform transactions for a

number of services electronically, the goal should consist in being able to

offer the most important 150 services through the central e-government

portal and the Intranet portal at the end of the period 2006-2010.

Integrate: Regarding the integration of different government agencies to

deliver services or groups of services jointly – thus providing a user-

friendly one-stop shop to the customer – a start should be made by

providing access for all government agencies to the essential shared data

they need for administering a variety of services. These shared data

include:

Citizen data: national ID number, name, date of birth, sex etc.

Business data: commercial registration number, name of business, name

of owner, kind of activity etc.

Land data: location, size, owner, (actual or planned) use of lot etc.

Employee data: name, government agency, job title etc.

Finally, it is important to note that the four different models described above

should be seen as providing a general orientation for the e-government initiative.

In practice, an e-government initiative may follow this or that model. They should

not be seen as strict rules regarding all government services. For example,

although a given initiative may follow the Integrator model, it may not make sense

to demand that all services be integrated. Some may not be a candidate for

integration at all – because, e.g., there are no other services they relate to, their

demand is extremely low or it may be too costly, complex or time-consuming to

integrate them with other services. In the same vein, not all services may even be a

candidate for e-enabling; for some, providing information may be enough.

3.3 PRIORITIZATION OF SAUDI E-SERVICES

The 150 suggested government services to be redesigned; e-enabled and

implemented during the period 2006-2010 have been arrived at through a thorough

28


selection process. First, all relevant government services were catalogued. Second,

the catalogued services were reduced to a list of services in a narrower sense: (i)

only those services were considered that require a transaction between government

and user at some point and do not merely involve display of information or queries

and (ii) a service was taken as the total of transactions related to the given topic

(e.g., issuing a passport, renewing a passport and adding a child to a passport were

all considered transactions within the same service). Third, this list of services was

narrowed down, using insights from other countries' experiences, to a total number

of 150, a number that is representative of what leading countries set out to

implement during the first phase of an e-government initiative.

After the selection of the top-priority 150 government services, these services

needed to be prioritized with respect to implementation. Again, this was done

using insights from other countries. An extensive benchmarking of 20 countries' e-

government initiatives was conducted regarding (a) the services that these

countries have chosen to re-design, e-enable and implement at the very start of the

initiative and (b) the dimensions and criteria that were used by the benchmarked

countries for prioritizing the services identified. On the basis of this, a

prioritization matrix for Saudi government services was developed focusing on

two evaluation dimensions (see Exhibit 7):

Exhibit 7

PRIORITIZATION MATRIX FOR SAUDI GOVERNMENT SERVICES

Impact criteria

1. Number of

transactions

per year

2. Potential for

creating

economic

value

3. Potential

increase in

distribution

reach of the

service

4. Perceived

importance of

service by

user

Readiness

Impact

High

priority

services

Medium

priority

services

Medium

priority

services

Low

priority

services

Readiness criteria

1. Target group

e-availability

2. User willing-

ness to switch

to e-services

3. Government

agency‟s

readiness to

change

processes

4. Agency‟s

resources and

IT capabilities

5. Overall

complexity of

process

6. Need for pers-

onal interaction/

signature

Source: Yesser

29


Impact: Which services would, after redesign, e-enablement and

implementation, produce the highest degree of improvement for the user of

this service and the country at large?

Readiness: Which services and their administering agencies are in a good

starting position to guarantee successful redesign, e-enablement and

implementation of the service within the required timeframe 2006-2010?

The application of this prioritization matrix to the selected 150 government

services divided the services into three categories:

6 Category 1 or pilot services: These are services that score highest

regarding impact and readiness criteria; these services will serve as best

practice examples for following services to be implemented later on.

20 Category 2 services: These are services that score very high regarding

impact and readiness criteria; these services should serve as prime

candidates for implementation following the rollout of Category 1 pilot

services, building on the experiences gathered during implementation of

the Category 1 pilot services.

124 Category 3 services: These are services that score high regarding

impact and readiness criteria; these services should serve as prime

candidates for implementation within the third phase of the initiative

(suggested), again building on the experiences made during

implementation of Category 1 or pilot and Category 2 services.

Regarding redesign, e-enablement and implementation of the suggested 150

government services, Saudi Arabia‟s e-government program should follow a

combination of a top-down and a bottom-up approach:

Top-down approach: Category 1 pilot services have been identified

using a top-down approach (in close interaction with the administering

agencies), and redesign, e-enablement and implementation of exactly these

identified services should be the goal for the specified timeframe.

Bottom-up approach: Category 2 and 3 services have also been

identified using a top-down approach; however, the implementation of

30


exactly these services, in the order and within the timeframe mentioned,

should not be made mandatory. Instead, here, the top-down approach to

service identification should be complemented by a bottom-up approach.

The 20 Category 2 and 124 Category 3 services identified by the top-down

approach represent the prime candidates for implementation immediately

after the Category 1 pilot services and serve as the “pool” from which

services can be taken to implementation. However, if individual ministries

or other government agencies regard services not included in the pool of

Category 2 and 3 services to have more impact and higher readiness than

the Category 2 and 3 services identified, then these ministries can

implement these services they identified bottom-up instead of the Category

2 and 3 services having been identified top-down.

There should be only three boundary conditions to this combination of a top-down

and a bottom-up approach to identifying services:

Total number of services: A total number of about 150 services to be

redesigned, e-enabled and implemented within the period 2006-2010.

Impact and readiness evaluation: Services identified by individual

ministries or other government agencies which are not included in the pool

of Category 2 and 3 services should be evaluated according to the

dimensions already mentioned, i.e., they must score high on the impact and

readiness criteria specified.

Ministry of Finance/YESSER review and approval: A joint Ministry of

Finance and YESSER committee will review the services identified and

proposed by individual government agencies and will need to approve of

the implementation of these services instead of the ones included in the

pool of Category 2 and 3 services.

Whichever services are chosen in the end for implementation and to be offered

electronically, they should be combined into clusters according to their type and

the theme they address and in consideration of the following factors:

User centricity: Some of the government services are naturally connected

to each other and either always have to be administered together or require

each other as prerequisites. Thus, there is no major advantage for the user

31


if only one of these services is e-enabled, but the others remain unchanged,

since, in such a case, one of the services may be used online but the user

would still have to go to the government agency in person for the others

and fill out paper forms. Combining inter-dependent services into clusters

therefore increases the benefit for the user substantially.

Synergies in implementation: Redesigning, e-enabling and implementing

a government service always follows the same process steps and

methodologies, has a wide variety of common features when it comes to

putting into place the IT solution and requires very similar organizational

set-ups. Therefore, if services are implemented together in projects,

synergies can be achieved in finding target solutions, in identifying and

realising IT architectures and in managing the project.

Private sector involvement: Combining services for implementation

allows, in particular, for selecting and holding accountable one single

vendor. Moreover, if a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) model is chosen

that puts the financial burden upon the vendor, combining services for

implementation may allow for inclusion of "subsidized" services that are

important for the user, but not attractive for the vendor to implement

independently.

The next section will now describe the e-government framework that needs to be

put into place in order to make successful delivery of these redesigned and e-

enabled Saudi government services possible.

32


IV. The e-Government Framework

for the Period 2006-2010

4.1 THE DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE FRAMEWORK AND

THE PROJECTS

Any successful e-government initiative is primarily concerned, as described in the

previous section, with providing improved government e-services to the user, be it

an individual, a business or a government agency. Moreover, it also aims to

increase efficiency and effectiveness of the government's administration. In order

to be able to do so, an e-government initiative has to address several issues and has

to put into place several components of an e-government framework:

Vision and objectives: First of all, the initiative has to be guided by a

strong vision and a small number of clearly stated objectives (already

described in Section I)

e-services: Secondly, the initiative has to actually meet its primary goal

and deliver improved e-services to the user (as described previously in

Section II)

National applications: Thirdly, the initiative has to provide major cross-

departmental applications of national importance as a catalyst for

increasing efficiency and effectiveness of government agencies

Infrastructure: Fourthly, the initiative has to make it physically possible

to offer the e-services and national applications electronically by putting in

place a strong and reliable infrastructure that enables e-services and

national applications and makes data communication between government

agencies possible

Organization: And, finally, the overall challenge of the implementation of

such a complex initiative requires a dedicated organization to be in place

from day one, which is embedded in appropriate governance and funding

model and addresses change management issues.

33


These components of any successful e-government initiative are shown in

overview in Exhibit 8. The individual projects undertaken within these

components will be explained in more detail below.

Exhibit 8

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. COMPONENTS OF E-GOVERNMENT FRAMEWORK FOR SAUDI ARABIA

Source: Yesser

Providing

world class

government

e-services to

citizens,

expatriates,

businesses

and government

agencies/

employees

Building a reli-

able infrastruct-

ure (incl. data

and technical

layer) on which

world class

government

e-services can

be administered

Vision

&

Objectives

Infrastructure

Organization

Funding Change Mgmt.Governance

Having a dedic-

ated organization

embedded in an

appropriate

governance

model, with an

effective funding

mechanism and

a broad change

mgmt. initiative

Having a compelling and motiv-

ating vision to drive the initiative

as well as clear and specific ob-

jectives to guide implementation

E-ServicesNational

applications

Providing major

cross-

departmental

applications as

a catalyst for

increasing

efficiency and

effectiveness of

government

agencies

Projects of the e-services component

As described in the previous section, the 150 government services suggested for

redesign, e-enablement and implementation within the period 2006-2010 comprise

6 Category 1 pilot services, 20 Category 2 services and 124 Category 3 services.

The redesign, e-enablement and implementation of these services will be realized

by corresponding e-services projects. Regarding the Category 1 pilot services, the

following 6 projects have been identified to be put into place:

Employment service

Expatriate labor request service

Work permit service

Payment order service

34


Commercial registration service

University admission service at King Saud University.

Exhibit 9 below gives an overview of the 6 Category 1 or pilot projects.

Exhibit 9

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. OVERVIEW CATEGORY 1 OR PILOT SERVICES PROJECTS

Source: Yesser

Project/

service

Description

Host

agency

Kind of

service

Employment

service

Expat labour

request

Work permit

service

Payment

order service

Commercial

Registration

University

admission

Employment

service

Work permit

service

Expat labour

request

Payment

order service

Commercial

Registration

University

admissionCategory 1 or pilot services projects

Matching of

Saudi job

seekers

with job

vacancies

at private

sector

companies

Issuance of

expat labour

approvals

for Saudi

private

companies

Issuance of

work permit

for expat-

riates to

Saudi

private

companies

Issuance of

payment

order by

Ministry of

Finance for

government

agencies

Commercial

registration

of establish-

ments and

companies

at commer-

cial register

Admission

of students

at King

Saud

University

Ministry of

Labour

Ministry of

Labour

Ministry of

Labour

Ministry of

Finance

Ministry of

Commerce

and Industry

King Saud

University

G2C G2B G2B G2G G2B G2C

Mixture of G2C-, G2B and G2G-services projects

A more detailed description of these projects will be given in Section V.

For the suggested 20 Category 2 and 124 Category 3 services, the respective

projects will have to be set up. A list and short description of these

services/projects will also be given in Section VI.

Projects of the national applications component

Regarding the national applications, i.e., major cross-departmental applications

designed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government agencies,

three projects have been identified:

e-Procurement: Development of a government-wide electronic platform

for government procurement of goods and services

35


Government correspondence: Development of a government-wide

electronic platform to prepare, exchange, store, track and retrieve

messages and documents

Government databases: Development of a government-wide electronic

platform to make available to all government agencies (and, possibly, the

public and the private sector) information already stored in databases of

various government agencies.

Exhibit 10 provides an overview of these projects. As described in the beginning

of this section, these projects serve the purpose of providing major cross-

departmental applications as a catalyst for increasing the efficiency and

effectiveness of government agencies. A more detailed description of these

projects will be given in Section VI.

Exhibit 10

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. OVERVIEW NATIONAL APPLICATION PROJECTS

Source: Yesser

Project

Description

Owner

e-ProcurementGovernment

correspondences

Government

databases

• Development of a govern-

ment-wide electronic

platform for centralized

procurement of goods

and services needed in

gvmt. agencies

• In the end state, usage of

platform mandatory for all

gvmt. agencies and all

suppliers (given value of

purchase is above a

certain threshold)

• Ministry of Finance



platform to prepare,

exchange, store, track

and retrieve messages

and documents

• To consist of two

modules

– Electronic messaging

system

– Electronic document

management system

• Yesser (facilitator)



platform to make

available to all gvmt.

agencies (and, possibly,

the public and the private

sector) information

already stored in

databases of various

government agencies

• Yesser (facilitator)

Involved

entities

• Short term, only biggest

ministries

• Longterm, all government

agencies

• All government agencies

and their employees

• As “suppliers”: gvmt.

agencies to be identified

• As users: all gvmt. agenc-

ies and, possibly, the

public and private sector

E-procurementGovernment

correspondences

National data

exchangeNational application projects

Projects of the infrastructure component

As already mentioned at the beginning of this section, a strong and reliable

infrastructure should be put into place to enable the proposed e-services and

national application projects and to make integration and data exchange between

36


agencies possible. To achieve this, a shared central infrastructure should be

implemented and a government data network needs to be established.

While government agencies should have a high flexibility in the way their services

are implemented, using the shared central infrastructure is highly recommended as

it will (i) decrease the cost and time required for implementation of the individual

services and (ii) establish a basis for future cross-agency projects.

Four projects should be started to implement the physical infrastructure: the e-

government network project, the integration infrastructure project, the e-

government portal project and the Intranet portal project. In parallel, two other

projects should be launched to enable effective use of the infrastructure: the e-

services shared data project and the interoperability framework project.

e-Government network project: This project should develop the network

infrastructure and set up communication and security standards. As part of

the project, an infrastructure for a virtual private network (VPN)

connecting government agencies will be established

Integration infrastructure project: This project should provide

infrastructure necessary for implementation of the e-services projects.

Infrastructure will consist of the following elements:

Integration bus: This element will allow government agencies to

exchange data through middleware.

Authentication/authorization and payment gateway: These components

will allow government agencies to authenticate and authorize users of e-

services and will provide payment processing functionalities.

User interaction toolkit: This component will enable rapid deployment

of e-services (user interaction functionalities).

e-Government portal project: This project will develop a central e-

government portal playing two roles: (a) single (but not exclusive) point of

access to information about G2C and G2B government services; (b) single

(but not exclusive) point of access to government e-services transactions.

Intranet portal project: This project will develop a government Intranet

portal as a single point of access to G2G information and services:

37


government-internal data and supporting applications for government

agencies. The project will share most of its infrastructure with the e-

government portal.

E-services shared data project: This project will ensure accessibility to

the basic required shared data, needed across government agencies for the

delivery of the majority of e-services (e.g., data on citizens, companies).

The goal will be to enable and automate access to this information,

available at the government agencies. The project is a critical enabler for

the implementation of e-services.

Interoperability framework project: This project will establish common

standards and definitions to be used in the exchange of information

between government agencies. The project will focus on the development

of data schemas and metadata standards and on the set-up of technical

standards.

Exhibit 11 gives an overview of the projects of the infrastructure component.

Exhibit 11


Government

network

Integration

infrastructure

Government

portal

Intranet

portal

Interoperab.

framework

E-services

shared data

OVERVIEW INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

Source: Yesser

Project

De-

script-

ion

e-Government

network

• Network infra-

structure and

set-up of stand-

ards allowing

gvmt. agencies,

companies and

individuals

data exchange

• Infrastructure

for VPN

connecting

government

institutions

Infrastructure projects

Integration

infrastructure

• Integration bus

• Shared

services: user

authentication/

authorization,

payments

• User

interaction

toolkit

e-Government

portal

• Single (not

exclusive)

point of access

to information

about gvmt.

services and

e-services for

citizens and

companies

• Single (not

exclusive)

point of access

to gvmt.

e-services

Intranet

portal

• Single (not

exclusive)

point of access

to internal

gvmt. data and

supporting

applications for

gvmt. agencies

and their

employees

Interoperab.

framework

• Common

standards and

definitions to

be used in

exchange of

information

between gvmt.

agencies

e-Services

shared data

• Facilitation of

data sharing

between gvmt.

Institutions

• Implementation

of required

interfaces

Involved

entities

• All gvmt.

agencies

participating

in e-govern-

ment program

• MoI, MoCI

• SADAD

• All gvmt.

agencies

participating

in e-govern-

ment program

• All gvmt.

agencies

participating

in e-govern-

ment program

• All gvmt.

agencies

participating

in e-govern-

ment program

• All gvmt.

agencies

participating

in e-govern-

ment program

Owner Yesser • Yesser• Data owners

(e.g. MoI,

MoCI)

38


The fifth component of the e-government framework for Saudi Arabia's e-

government initiative – organization – is described in Section VI.

4.2 HOW THE PROJECTS FULFILL THE OBJECTIVES

Naturally, as already mentioned above, the e-government framework, its

components and the projects of the components have all been developed in order

to achieve the primary goal of Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative, as

formulated in the vision statement, i.e., to provide better services to the user.

Nonetheless, it may be helpful to show how, in particular, the various projects help

fulfill the objectives of the initiative as specified in Section 1.

e-services projects: There is a very close and direct connection between

the e-services projects (Category 1 or pilot, Category 2 and Category 3

services projects) and the objectives in the "Provide better services by the

end of 2010" group.

In addition, the e-services projects also contribute indirectly to fulfilling the

objectives in the "Increase internal efficiency and effectiveness" group. This

is so because redesign and e-enablement of the services chosen will

streamline and simplify current processes and procedures and will thus make

the administration of the service more effective and efficient.

Moreover, the e-services projects also help achieve, in a wider sense, the

objectives in the "Contribute to country's prosperity" group, for two reasons.

For one thing, after redesign and e-enablement, the service will be available

faster and more easily to the user, thus freeing time for both users and

government employees and therefore raising productivity of the country as a

whole. For another thing, using the service in its online form will help

spread information and knowledge in the country and its transformation into

an information society.

National application projects: There is a very close and direct connection

between each of the three national application projects and one of the

objectives in the "Increase internal efficiency and effectiveness" group.

Clearly, the national application project "Government correspondence"

helps fulfill objective 6: "Deliver all possible official intra-governmental

communication in a paperless way." In the same way, the national

application project "Government databases" helps fulfill objective 7:

39


"Ensure accessibility of all information needed across government

agencies and storage of information with as little redundancy as possible."

And likewise, the national application project "e-procurement" helps fulfill

objective 8: "Purchase all goods and services above a reasonable value

threshold through e-procurement."

In addition, the three national application projects also contribute indirectly

to the objectives in the "Provide better services by the end of 2010" group,

since, for example, documents can be sent and received electronically and

some services may be administered and offered faster due to the data access

and the purchase of goods and services electronically.

Moreover, as before, the national application projects also help achieve, in a

wider sense, the objectives in the "Contribute to country's prosperity" group,

because, again, these projects will free resources, thus raising productivity,

and will spread information and knowledge, thus contributing to the

country's transformation into an information society.

Infrastructure projects: There is a direct connection between the

infrastructure projects and the objectives in the "Provide better services by

the end of 2010" group as well as in the "Increase internal efficiency and

effectiveness" group. This is because the infrastructure projects will

provide the basis on which the e-services as well as the national application

projects will be carried through effectively and efficiently. Further, the

infrastructure projects also help fulfill, in particular, the objective of

delivering government services at the highest standard of security.

Moreover, as mentioned, the infrastructure projects also help achieve, in a

wider sense, the objectives in the "Contribute to country's prosperity" group,

because, again, these projects will build the basis upon which the other

projects contribute to fulfilling this group of objectives.

Exhibit 12 below shows in overview how the projects described contribute to

achieving the objectives of Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative.

40


Exhibit 12


1. Provide the top priority services (150) at world class level of

quality electronically

2. Deliver services in a seamless and user friendly way and at

highest standards of security

3. Make services available to everyone in the Kingdom and allow

24/7 access from cities as well as countryside and even

outside the country

4. Realise 75% adoption rate with respect to the number of users

5. Ensure 80% user satisfaction rating for all services provided

electronically

6. Deliver all possible official intra-governmental communication

in a paperless way

7. Ensure accessibility of all information needed across

government agencies and storage of information with as little

redundancy as possible

8. Purchase all goods & services above a reasonable value

threshold through e-procurement

9. Contribute to establishment of information society in the

Kingdom through spreading information, knowledge and use of

e-services

10. Help improve use of country‟s assets and resources by increas-

ing society‟s productivity in private, business and public sector

Provide better services by the end of 2010

Increase internal efficiency and effectiveness

Contribute to country‟s prosperity

HOW THE PROJECTS CONTRIBUTE

TO ACHIEVING THE OBJECTIVES

* The E-services shared data project contributes, in particular, directly to objective number 7

Source: Yesser

E-services

projects

National appl.

projects

Infrastructure

projects

Direct DirectIndirect

Direct*Indirect

Overall Overall Overall

Direct:

Gvmt. corresponden.

Direct:

Gvmt. databases

Direct:

E-procurement

4.3 PRIORITIES AND SEQUENCING

All of the projects described above have to be implemented within the period

2006-2010. However, some projects have a higher priority than others and thus

have to be initiated right way.

Priority 1 projects – infrastructure projects and Category 1 pilot

services projects: The infrastructure projects have a high priority because

they constitute the basis for the e-services as well as the national

applications projects. The infrastructure projects thus have to be started as

soon as possible and need to be completed within the first phase of the

initiative. The same holds for the Category 1 pilot services projects that

provide best practice knowledge for the implementation of the remaining

144 government services. These, too, therefore have to be initiated as soon

as possible and implemented within the first phase of the project.

Infrastructure and Category 1 pilot services projects are thus Priority 1

projects

41


Priority 2 projects – Category 2 services projects and national

application projects: Category 2 services projects can start once the

necessary infrastructure is in place and Category 1 pilot services projects

have been successfully completed. The same holds for the national

application projects, which can all be started once the necessary

infrastructure "backbone" has been successfully implemented (unless

budgetary reasons require a phased start of these projects). The national

application projects are, given the experiences of other countries, likely to

require a larger timeframe and may most probably be completed only at the

end of the period 2006-2010. Category 2 services projects and national

application projects are thus the Priority 2 projects

Priority 3 projects – Category 3 services projects: Category 3 services

projects could, in principle, also be started after the necessary

infrastructure is in place and the Category 1 pilot services have been

successfully implemented. However, it may be more realistic to schedule

their implementation for the beginning of the third phase of the program: a

ramp-up from six (pilot) services in the first phase to more than 20

(Category 2) services in the second phase – on top of implementing the

national application projects – may be too difficult to coordinate and,

moreover, budgetary reasons may require spreading service

implementation over a more extended period. In the same vein, although

each single Category 3 service project should, in principle, be

implementable within 12 months period, for the total number of 124

Category 3 services a gradual implementation may be more appropriate: in

three stages, spread out over 3 years, ~45 services could be covered each

year. Category 3 services projects are thus the Priority 3 projects.

Exhibit 13 gives an overview of the priorities of the various projects described in

this section and the timeline for their implementation.

42


Exhibit 13


PRIORITIES OF PROJECTS AND IMPLEMENTATION SEQUENCE

* Implementation of e - services projects has a 12 months pilot phase (Horizon 1) and a full redesign phase of several years (Horizon 2), which is indicated by the dotted line; likewi se, implementation of infrastructure projects has a 1 st phase to enable Category 1/pilot e - services and national application projects and a 2 nd phase providing user interaction toolkits for Category 2 and 3 e - services projects (see also below, Section VI “ The E - government Action Plan Projects ” )

Source: Yesser

Priority 2 projects

E - services projects: Category 2 projects *

National application projects

Priority 3 projects

E - services projects: Category 3 services projects

Priority 1 projects

E - services projects: Category 1 or pilot services projects*

Projects

Infrastructure projects*

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010


43


V. Roles and Responsibilities of

the Implementation

Organizations

OVERVIEW

The organizational issue “Roles and responsibilities of the implementation

organizations” has three aspects:

Governance: The organizational structure, roles and responsibilities.

Funding mechanism: The financing of the various e-government projects.

Change management: The various aspects of change that are introduced

by e-government and need to be managed.

These aspects are given in overview in Exhibit 14 below, along with the key

questions that need to be answered regarding each aspect.

Exhibit 14

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. OVERVIEW ASPECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES –

“ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES OF IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATIONS”

Source: Yesser

Questions

Governance

• What are the roles of the Yesser Program and individual government

agencies?

• What are the main responsibilities or functions of the Yesser Program?

• How is the Yesser Program governed?

Funding

mechanism

• What kinds of funding mechanisms are there?

• How are individual e-government projects funded?

• Who is evaluating and approving e-government projects submitted for

funding?

• What are the prerequisites for funding?

Change

management

• What aspects of change have to be managed?

• How and by whom are these change aspects managed?

• What components does change management have?

44


The next three subsections discuss these questions one after the other.

5.1 GOVERNANCE

Roles and responsibilities of the YESSER Program

Saudi Arabia‟s national e-government initiative was decided to be led by the

YESSER Program with its already established role and organizational structure:

Role: The role of the YESSER Program is to enable and facilitate

implementation of Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative as well as to

ensure an appropriate level of coordination between the government

agencies involved (see also the introduction to Section I).

Organizational structure: The organizational structure of the YESSER

Program consists of the Supreme Supervisory Committee, the YESSER

Steering Committee, the YESSER Program Directorate, the Advisory

Group to the YESSER Program and decentral e-government committees in

various government agencies involved in the implementation of Saudi's e-

government initiative.

The YESSER Program has five main responsibilities or functions:

Implementation of infrastructure projects.

Definition of common standards.

Coordination, support and facilitation of implementation of e-services and

national application projects.

Planning of the project portfolio as well as coordination and evaluation of

newly proposed projects decentrally planned by individual government

agencies and submitted for co-funding.

Introduction of change management (i.e., communication and training).

Exhibit 15 below gives an overview of the YESSER Program's role, its already

established organizational structure and its main responsibilities.

45


Exhibit 15

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. GOVERNANCE: ROLE, MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL

STRUCTURE OF YESSER PROGRAM

Source: Yesser

The Yesser Program‟s

role in Saudi Arabia„s

national e-government

initiative is to

• Enable and facilitate

implementation of

better services in

individual ministries

and other government

agencies

• Ensure appropriate

level of coordination

between these minis-

tries and agencies

Role of Yesser program

Main responsibilities of

Yesser program

• Implementation of

infrastructure projects

• Definition of common

standards

• Coordination, support and

facilitation of implement-

ation of e-services and

flagship application projects

• Planning the project

portfolio and evaluation of

newly proposed projects,

decentrally planned by

individual government

agencies and submitted for

co-funding

• Introduction of Change

Management

Overview organizational

structure of Yesser Program

C

A

B ED

A = Supreme Supervisory Committee

B = Steering Committee

C = Program Directorate

D = Advisory Group

E = E-government committees in

government agencies

= reports to

= consults

= coodinate

Roles and responsibilities of the government organizations involved

Of course, there are, in addition to YESSER, other government agencies involved

in Saudi Arabia's national e-government initiative. These can be classified and

their roles and responsibilities can be described as follows:

e-Service projects

Implementers: Agencies of this type implement e-services projects and

are responsible for successful realisation end-to-end (e.g., for Category

1 pilot services: Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of

Commerce & Industry, King Saud University).

Partners: Agencies of this type are part of ensuring successful

realisation of the e-services projects by delivering necessary data and

supporting functions and are responsible for effectively co-operating

with both the respective e-services host agencies and YESSER (e.g., for

expat labor request pilot service: Ministry of Interior, Department of

Zakat and Income Tax, General Organization for Social Insurance,

Ministry of Civil Service as data providers).

46


National application projects implementers/partners

Implementers: Agencies of this type implement national application

projects and are responsible for successful realisation end-to-end (e.g.,

for the e-procurement project: Ministry of Finance).

Partners: Agencies of this type are part of ensuring successful

realisation of the national application projects by delivering necessary

data and are responsible for effectively cooperating with both the

respective implementation agency and YESSER (e.g., for government

databases project: all government agencies identified for connecting

their databases).

Infrastructure project implementers/partners

Implementers: Agencies of this type implement parts of the national e-

government infrastructure that interface the individual agency to the

shared national infrastructure implemented by YESSER, thus laying the

basis for providing services such as payment processes (SADAD), user

authentication (Ministry of Interior) and user authorization (Ministry of

Commerce and Industry); the respective agencies are responsible for

successful end-to-end realisation of their parts.

Partners: Agencies of this type will be connected to the national e-

government infrastructure in later stages of the project and are

responsible for effectively cooperating with YESSER.

Other government agencies: Agencies of this type are in some other way

either involved or affected by the implementation of the projects

mentioned above and are responsible for cooperating effectively with the

implementing agencies (e.g., all ministries are involved in successful

implementation of the e-procurement project, to be carried out by the

Ministry of Finance).

For Saudi Arabia's e-government initiative to be a success, close cooperation of all

government agencies involved in one way or other in the various projects to be

implemented is a crucial factor (see Exhibit 16).

47


Exhibit 16

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF INVOLVED GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Source: Yesser

E-services projects

• Implementors

(e.g., MoL, MoF,

MoCI, KSU)

• Partners

(e.g., MoI, Zakat

Dept., GOSI, MoCS)

Nation. applic. projects

• Implementors

(e.g., MoF, Yesser as

facilitator)

• Partners

(all gvmt. agencies)

Infrastructure projects

• Implementors

(e.g., Yesser, SADAD,

MoI, MoCI)

• Partners

Close co-operation

of all government

agencies involved

is needed for suc-

cessful implement-

ation of 1st National

E-Government

Strategy & Action

PlanOther involved

government

agencies

5.2 FUNDING MECHANISMS

Central e-government fund and three different funding mechanisms

In order for the projects of the National Action Plan described in Section III to

become a reality, sufficient funding has to be secured, as the key learnings from

benchmarking show (see Section I). To this end, a central National e-Government

Fund should be established and managed by the Ministry of Finance. Regarding

this fund, two different funding mechanisms can be distinguished:

Full central funding: Financed fully by the Ministry of Finance out of the

central National e-Government Fund, granted to government agencies

implementing e-government projects contained in the National e-

Government Action Plan

Central co-funding: Financed partially out of the central National e-

Government Fund and partially by individual government agencies'

budgets; granted to individual agencies for projects newly proposed and

submitted for central co-funding.

48


In addition to these two funding mechanisms, a third one can be considered which

does not involve any financing from the central National e-Government Fund:

Third-party or private-public-partnership (PPP)-based funding:

Financed by private sector companies implementing e-government projects

from which they generate revenues later on; these revenues may be

generated in two different ways:

From government-external sources only, i.e., from individuals or

businesses using government services.

From government-external and/or government-internal sources, i.e.,

from budgets of individual government agencies.

Application of the three different funding mechanisms

These three different funding mechanisms should be applied as follows to the

various e-government projects described in Section III:

Full central funding should be granted by the Ministry of Finance to the

following parts of the National e-Government Action Plan:

The following e-services projects: The six selected Category 1 pilot

services projects.

All national application projects: Government correspondence, e-

procurement and government databases (however, for the last two

projects, see below, possibility of third-party or PPP-based funding).

All infrastructure projects: E-government network, integration

infrastructure, e-government portal, Intranet portal, interoperability

framework and e-services shared data.

Central co-funding should be granted by the Ministry of Finance to e-

government projects newly proposed and submitted for central co-funding

by individual government agencies:

Projects of this kind will predominantly be Category 2 and Category 3

e-services projects or projects on other e-services selected by individual

government agencies after impact and readiness evaluation.

49


To ensure effective submission and subsequent successful

implementation of these projects, an e-government project competition

amongst government agencies should be established, which motivates

the agencies to come up with innovative e-government projects, thus

complementing the top-down e-government approach of the YESSER

Program with a bottom-up approach for project identification.

The projects submitted should be evaluated and approved by a joint

Committee of the Ministry of Finance and the YESSER Program.

Money from the central National e-Government Fund should be granted

subject to two requirements: (i) Projects approved will only be co-

financed by the central e-Government Fund, i.e., government agencies

submitting projects have to finance part of the project out of their own

budget; (ii) The co-financing will be subject to milestone monitoring,

i.e., the money will not be granted fully up-front, but in instalments

connected to well-specified milestones and to reaching these milestones

on time.

Third-party or private-public-partnership (PPP)-based funding should

be considered as an option for the projects of the National Action Plan

based on an evaluation of the following factors:

Financial need: PPPs are often used when there is high budget pressure

within the government that does not allow substantial one-time

investments. In these cases, the upfront investment is made by the

private partner, which either receives government payments over a

longer period of time or generates revenues from non-governmental

sources (as described above).

Transfer of skills: PPP‟s can be beneficial if certain skills or

knowledge are not present in government and transfer of those skills or

knowledge from the private partner can be ensured during

implementation of the project.

Time to implement: PPP‟s are sometimes helpful if a short

implementation timeframe is critical because private companies have a

higher degree of freedom to concentrate staff on one specific project at

short notice.

50


Development of private sector: Choosing PPP‟s for implementation of

government projects can also be an option for a more general reason,

i.e., developing the national private sector in a specific field such as IT.

Depending on the evaluation of these factors, some of projects mentioned in the

previous section may be a candidate for PPP-based funding. The implementation

of those projects should always be carried out in compliance with Resolution No.

110 of the Council of Ministers, dated May 25, 2004, which defines the rules that

regulate the participation of the private sector.

Exhibit 17 gives an overview of the projects that may be potential candidates for a

PPP-based funding.

Exhibit 17

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. EXAMPLES OF POTENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR PPP PROJECTS:

FUNDING AND REVENUE SOURCE

Source: Yesser

Revenue source

Public None

Funding

Public

Private

Private

E-procurement

Government

correspondences

Government

network

Gov-

ernment

data-

bases

Cate-

gory 1

pilot

serv-

ices

Cate-

gory

2 & 3

serv-

ices

Which of these projects may in the end be implemented based on a PPP is a

decision to be taken by the implementing government agency based on, e.g., a

definition of the revenue sources/forecast of potential revenues, the availability of

the required services in the private sector and an appropriate assessment of the

financial and legal risk involved in partnering with the given private sector

company.

51


Exhibit 18 gives an overview of the three different funding mechanisms discussed,

the scope of their application and the prerequisites for funding.

Exhibit 18

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. FUNDING MECHANISM: THREE DIFFERENT MECHANISMS

* I.e., government agencies submitting the projects must finance part of the project themselves

** I.e., money will not be granted fully up-front, but in parts acc. to well-specified milestones and on-time reaching of these

*** Private-public-partnership

Source: Yesser

Descript-

ion

• Financed fully by Ministry of

Finance out of central e-gvmt.

budget for National e-Gvmt.

Action Plan

Pre-

requi-

sites

• Funding for the National e-

Gvmt. Action Plan

Remarks • Possibility of 3rd party funding

for some projects

Fully central funding

• Shared financing by Ministry of

Finance out of central e-gvmt.

budget and by individual gvmt.

agencies out of own budget

• Establishment of e-gvmt.

competition

• Evaluation and approval

of projects by joint Ministry of

Finance and Yesser Committee

Central co-funding

• Financed by private sector

companies based on PPP

Third party (PPP***) funding

• Projects appropriate for PPP

based funding to be identified

by implementing gvmt. agency

based on revenue forecast,

presence of required skills in

private sector and risk

assessment

• Evaluation of financial

necessity, need to transfer

skills, criticality of time to

implement and development

need of private sector

• Two requirements

– Only co-financed*

– According to milestones**

Scope • Category 1 pilot services

projects

• All infrastructure projects

• All national application projects

• Individual gvmt. agencies‟

projects submitted for central

co-funding

• Predominantly Category 2 and

Category 3 e-services projects

• e-Gvmt. projects from which

private sector companies can

generate revenues from

– Gvmt.-external sources

– Gvmt.-external and/or gvmt.

internal sources

5.3 CHANGE MANAGEMENT

As already described at the beginning of Section II, the introduction of any

successful e-government initiative is – if done properly and not reduced to IT

issues – focused on providing redesigned and improved e-services to the user. As

also already mentioned, this brings with it major change in a variety of aspects.

Change for the users: For the users, the way of interacting with

government agencies will change because of the improved and redesigned

e-services; this means they need to be informed of the possible new form

of interaction and may have to learn or be trained to do new things (e.g.,

access Internet sites).

Change for government employees: For government employees, the

processes of administering redesigned e-services will change; this means

they need to be alerted to these changes and need to be trained in running

the new processes.

52


Change for government decision makers: For government decision

makers, the way of running a government agency will change because of

the new focus of the e-government initiative, i.e., user centricity,

coordination with the central e-government agency (YESSER Program)

and other government agencies (e.g., in data exchange and for

interoperability); this means government decision makers need to be aware

of these changes and the new behaviour they require.

This change in various aspects needs to be addressed. This will be done first and

foremost, obviously, by the implementing government agencies during normal

project implementation work. However, this decentralized day-to-day change

management should be complemented by a central change management initiative,

run by the YESSER Program. This central change management initiative should

comprise a number of sub-initiatives:

A public awareness campaign to inform the users (citizens, expatriates

and businesses) of the new possibilities of interacting with government

agencies.

A government communications plan to inform government decision

makers and government employees administering improved and

redesigned e-services of the changes introduced by e-government.

A public e-skills training program to train the users in basic means of

electronic communication.

A government e-skills training program for government employees to

build the essential cross-functional e-skills needed to administer e-services.

The various changes introduced by e-government as well as the several sub-

initiatives of the central change management initiative – which complements

decentralized day-to-day change management by project implementing

government agencies – are given in overview in Exhibit 19.

53


Exhibit 19


• To inform gvmt. deci-

sion makers & gvmt.

employees administ-

ering improved &

redesigned e-services

of changes involved

in e-government

Government

communic.

plan

CHANGE MANAGEMENT ASPECTS AND INITIATIVES

* This includes user centricity, coordination with the central e-government agency, i.e., Yesser Program, and other

government agencies (e.g., in data exchange and for interoperability)

Source: Yesser

Changes due to e-government

• For users

– Way of interacting with gvmt.

agencies will change because of

improved & redesigned e-services

– Thus users need to be informed of

possible new way of interaction &

learn or be trained doing new things

(e.g., access internet sites)

• For government employees

– Processes of administering

redesigned e-services will change

– Thus gvmt. employees need to be

alerted of changes & be trained

running new processes

• For government decsion makers

– Way of running gvmt. agencies will

change because of new focus of e-

government initiative*

– Thus gvmt. decision makers need to

be alerted of changes & new focus

Change management initiatives needed

• To inform users

of new possibilities

of interacting with

gvmt. agencies

Public

awareness

campaign

• To train users in

basic means

of electronic

communication

Public

e-skills

training pro.

• To build essential

cross-functional

e-skills in gvmt. em-

ployees needed to

administer e-services

Government

e-skills

training pro.

• Run by

Yesser

Program

• Comple-

menting

day-to-day

change

mgmt. by

govern-

ment agen-

cies during

normal pro-

ject imple-

mentation

work

54


VI. The e-Government Action Plan

Projects

Introduction

This section describes the individual projects that will be implemented during the

first Saudi Arabian e-government action plan. The section is divided into three

parts which correspond to the different components of Saudi Arabia's e-

government framework as described in Section III:

Projects of the e-services component: These projects serve the purpose of

addressing the primary goal of the e-government initiative, i.e., providing

better government services to the users.

Projects of the national application component: These projects provide

major cross-departmental applications as a catalyst for increasing the

efficiency and effectiveness of government agencies.

Projects of the infrastructure component: These projects put into place a

strong and reliable infrastructure to enable e-services, national applications

and data communication between government agencies.

For the projects of each component, an overview is given at the outset and the

individual projects of the respective component are then described in detail.

6.1 E-SERVICES PROJECTS

As already described in Section III, 150 government services were identified for

redesign, e-enablement and implementation during the period 2006-2010 after a

thorough selection process and on the basis of other countries' experiences. These

150 services were then prioritized by using impact and readiness criteria and

divided into three categories:

6 Category 1 or pilot services: Services scoring highest regarding impact

and readiness criteria, to be redesigned, e-enabled and implemented to ,

serve as best practice examples.

55


20 Category 2 services: Services scoring very high regarding impact and

readiness criteria, serving as prime candidates for implementation after

Category 1 pilot services, making use of best practice experiences from

implementation of Category 1 pilot services.

124 Category 3 services: Services scoring high regarding impact and

readiness criteria, serving as prime candidates for implementation within

the third phase of the program, again using best practice experiences from

implementation of Category 1 and Category 2 services.

The projects implementing the services of these three categories will be described

in Appendix A.

6.2 NATIONAL APPLICATION PROJECTS

As mentioned in Section III, the national application projects serve the purpose of

providing major cross-departmental applications as a catalyst for increasing

efficiency and effectiveness of government agencies. Three national application

projects have been identified for implementation in Saudi Arabia's e-government

initiative:

e-Procurement

Government correspondences

Government databases

Appendix B details out the National Application Projects.

56


2. NATIONAL APPLICATION PROJECTS

6.3 INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

Saudi Arabia should adopt, for its e-government initiative, a decentralized model

in which individual government agencies are responsible for the provision of

electronic services to users. However, in order to avoid duplication of effort and

cost, to enable and speed-up implementation of e-services and to provide the

required integration between government agencies, some of the e-government

elements will be shared and implemented centrally. The shared part of the

architecture will consist of the integration infrastructure (integration bus, user

interaction toolkit, security gateway and payment gateway), e-government portal

and intranet portal. The e-government network will connect participating agencies.

Exhibit 20

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. NATIONAL E-GOVERNMENT TECHNICAL

ARCHITECTURE

Components to be

implemented and

managed centrally

User interaction toolkit

User security

gateway

Payments

gateway

Integration bus

E-government

portal

Agency

Web sites

and portals

Corporate

systems

(e.g., ERP)

Front-end

layer

Middle

layer

Agency

back-end

system

SADAD

Back-end

layer

Intranet

portal

PKI -

Certificate

Service

Providers

E-services integration infrastructure

MoI MoCI

E-government

network

E-government

network

57


Exhibit 20 presents the key components of the national e-government technical

architecture:

The e-services integration infrastructure, which will consist of the

following items:

Integration bus – will be a critical middleware element of the

architecture by providing mechanisms for the interchange of data

between government agencies, citizens and external service providers.

User interaction toolkit – will consist of reusable components that can

be used by government agencies to interact with users through Web,

SMS, and IVR channels. It will also allow for integration with corporate

systems.

User security gateway – will give access to user authentication and

authorization shared services. The security gateway will connect to MoI

(where user credentials will be managed) and to MoCI (where rights to

represent businesses will be stored). In the future, the gateway will give

access to functions provided by Certification Service Providers as a part

of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

Payment gateway – will enable access to payment services. 'The

payment gateway will connect to SADAD.

E-government portal – will furnish G2B and G2C e-government services

to corporations and citizens. Users will have single point of access to

government information and to e-government services.

Intranet portal – will give access to G2G e-government services and

strengthen communication between different government agencies.

Government employees will have single point of access to internal

government information and supporting applications (e.g., government

correspondence or government databases).

E-government network – will connect shared components of architecture

with government agencies, external shared service providers and users.

58


Agency websites and portals – will be existing or new components,

managed by individual government agencies that provide access to

individual e-government services.

Agency back-end systems – will be existing or new systems that store

data relevant to e-government services and provide process and business

logic.

Although government agencies will have flexibility in the use of the shared

infrastructure, its use will be highly recommended since it will decrease the cost

and time of e-government services implementation and will simplify target e-

government architecture. In order to use shared infrastructure, government

agencies will need to comply with policies regarding user security, connectivity

and data interchange that will be defined as a part of the Saudi e-government

interoperability framework.

For the implementations of architecture, two groups of infrastructure projects will

be launched:

Infrastructure implementation projects – will build up the required

infrastructure and include the following projects: e-government network,

integration infrastructure, e-government portal and intranet portal.

Infrastructure enabling projects – will facilitate and enable the use of

shared infrastructure and include the interoperability framework definition

and the e-services shared data project.

Appendix C describes the infrastructure implementation projects, covering the

project goal and detailed description, project owner and implementation approach

for each project.

59


6.4 TIMELINE

Exhibit 21 below shows the projects just described in overview, ordered by their

priority (see also Section 4.3), and indicates when they should be implemented

over the next five years of the first National e-Government Strategy and Action

Plan.

Exhibit 21


TIMELINE FOR PROJECTS OF FIRST NATIONAL ACTION PLAN

Priority 2 projects • E - services projects:

Category 2 services projects * • National application projects

– E - procurement – Government correspondences – Government databases

Priority 3 projects E - services projects: Category 3 services projects

Priority 1 projects • E - services projects:

Category 1 or pilot services projects* – Employment service – Expat labour request – Work permit – Payment order – Commercial registration – University admission

Projects

• Infrastructure projects – E - government network – Integration infrastructure * – E - government portal – Intranet portal – E - services shared data – Interoperability framework

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010


* Implementation of e - services projects has a pilot phase (Horizon 1) and a full redes ign phase (Horizon 2), as indicated by the dotted line; likewise, the integration infrastructure pro ject has a 1st phase to enable Category 1 e - services and national application projects and a 2nd phase providing user int eraction toolkits for Category 2 and 3 e - services projects

Source: Yesser

60


VII. Estimated budget

7.1 INTRODUCTION

The next subsection will specify the financial means needed to implement the

program with its components and projects described in the previous sections. The

financial means needed are substantial but justified by the major benefits of the

introduction of e-government to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:

Better services: Citizen, business and government users alike will be able

to enjoy better government services, which will be of higher quality and

will require less time and efforts from end user(s). This visible

improvement will broadly raise satisfaction with government services,

which will increase quality of life.

Increased efficiency and effectiveness: The redesigned e-services, the

national application projects and the infrastructure projects will help the

government to substantially increase its productivity. This will, among

other things, reduce government's operating cost in the long run, creating a

more business-friendly environment in Saudi Arabia and leading to

increased domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), thus stimulating

economic growth and increase of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Information society: By spreading the information, knowledge and use of

e-services, the National Action Plan projects will contribute to the

establishment of an information society in Saudi Arabia, thus supporting

society's advancement.

The remainder of this section specifies the budget needed for the first year and

each of the following four years of the first National e-Government Action Plan. It

also briefly outlines the role of the private sector in the funding of the projects

described.

61


7.2 BUDGET OVERVIEW

The proposed budget has been estimated using two sources of data:

Benchmarking of spend levels in other countries, which has provided

guidance on the expected level of funding

Bottom-up estimation of the project cost to be run under the National e-

Government Action Plan. While more accurate, estimation may not include

all potential projects or activities required, as they may not have been

known at the time when the action plan was prepared. Therefore, bottom-

up estimation should be understood to indicate the minimum level of

funding required.

Benchmarking of other countries suggests funding of e-government initiatives at a

level of SAR 800 million a year. On average, the countries benchmarked spend

from SAR 800 million to SAR 1 billion yearly, but the figures vary by country,

with some countries spending SAR 500 million annually while others have

budgets significantly over SAR 2 billion a year.

The budget required for implementing the projects of the first National e-

Government Strategy and Action Plan has been arrived at by a combination of a

bottom-up and a top-down analyses and amounts to a total of SAR 3,045 million

over the first five years of the program. This budget will be used to fund the

infrastructure projects, pilot services implementation, rollout of Category 2 and

Category 3 services, integration of government agencies, implementation and

scaling up of the infrastructure, implementation of the national application projects

and operation and maintenance of the solutions developed.

Given that the annual average budget for the first National e-Government Strategy

and Action Plan amounts to, roughly, 0.2 percent of the annual national budget,

the investment would already justify itself if:

By increasing efficiency and effectiveness it helps government agencies to

save 0.2 percent annually, on average, of their budget spent.

By providing the other benefits described earlier – better services for the

users and contribution to the introduction of the Information Society – a

62


positive effect on the business environment is achieved, resulting in

economic growth and increase of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Further, as described in Section V, some of the projects of the first National

Action Plan may be funded based on private-public-partnerships (PPP), thus

decreasing the budget needed to implement the national e-government initiative.

63


Appendix A: e-Services Projects

A-1 Category 1: The Pilot e-Services Projects

The six selected Category 1 pilot services to be e-enabled and implemented are:

Employment service at Ministry of Labor

Expat labor request at Ministry of Labor

Work permit at Ministry of Labor

Payment order at Ministry of Finance

Commercial registration at Ministry of Commerce & Industry

University admission at King Saud University

Like the Category 2 and Category 3 services, the six pilot services were identified

using a top-down approach (in close interaction with the administering agencies)

by applying the defined impact and readiness criteria. There are, however, two

important differences between the selected pilot services, Category 2 and Category

3 services: First, the pilot services have already been analysed in detail: In close

co-operation with respective government agencies, process mappings of the

services as-is have been conducted, issues with the current services and possible

remedies have been identified, redesign target solutions have been designed and

implementation blueprints developed (see Exhibit A1).

64


Exhibit A1

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. PILOT SERVICE REDESIGN FOLLOWED A 5-STEP APPROACH

Mapping of

existing process,

IT assessment

Identification

of issues

Definition

of remedies

Combination

of remedies into

scenarios

Putting target

solution on

timeline

1 2 3 4 5

• Interviews with

process owners

• Paper and

information flows

mapped

• Understood

underlying perfor-

mance drivers

– Process steps

– Rules and

regulations

– IT support

– Legal

environment

• IT readiness of

government

agencies assessed

• Interviews with

– Process

owners

– Stakeholders

– Experts

• Drafted

hypotheses of

issues identified

in interviews

• Hypotheses

tested and

refined with

process owners

and stakeholders

• Hypotheses of

remedies drafted

based on issues

identified

• Hypotheses

tested and

refined with

process owners

and stakeholders

• Benchmarking

conducted and

taken into

account*

• Remedies

combined to

distinct scenarios

differing in impact

for host organisa-

tions and

stakeholders

• Scenarios

discussed and

modified in

workshops with

working teams

• Selection of

target solution

• Defined horizon

1 and 2 of

implementation

of pilot service

redesign to

ensure first

results within

12 months

– Horizon 1:

12 months

– Horizon 2:

1–4 years

• IT requirements

defined for

horizon 1 and 2

of target solution

Description

• Process flows at

workplace level

• IT assessment of

government

agencies

• Issues defined as

starting point/

background of

redesign

• Remedies as

input for

scenarios of

aspired end state

of redesign

• Scenarios for

redesign of pilot

services

• Selected target

solution

• Definition of short

and medium/long

term target

solutions

• IT requirements

End products

Phase 1 of

Action Plan project

Phase 2 of

Action Plan project

* Where necessary and possible

Source: Yesser

The selected Category 2 and 3 services (or their bottom-up substitutes) will also

have to undergo this process.

Second, the six selected pilot services should be implemented within the first

phase of the program; the selected Category 2 and 3 services only serve as prime

candidates for implementation in later phases, but can be substituted by other

services identified (bottom-up) by government agencies.

Regarding the implementation of the six redesigned pilot services, the

responsibility lies solely with the host agency – contrary to the redesign phase,

which was conducted jointly by the respective government agency and YESSER.

To ensure successful implementation within the specified time-frame, the host

agency needs to put into place a project team, including a full-time project

manager, develop and issue a Request for Proposal, select and manage a vendor

and supervise day-to-day implementation of the redesigned project. Also, pilot

service implementation should be documented by the host agency (regarding, e.g.,

key learnings and barriers to successful implementation of new business processes

and supporting IT architecture), and the resulting documentation should be shared

with all other government agencies redesigning and implementing further services.

65


1) EMPLOYMENT SERVICE

Description of service as-is

The Employment Service (ES) at the Labor Office (LO) is designed to match

unemployed Saudis to vacancies in the private sector. The service originates with

job seekers submitting applications with personal information and their certificates

and businesses submitting vacancy details to the LO. The LO enters the data into

the system, does manual matching, recommends job seekers and follows up after

the interviews. The main steps of the process are illustrated in Exhibit A2.

Exhibit A2

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. CURRENT PROCESS FOR EMPLOYMENT SERVICE AT THE LABOUR

OFFICE

Function

Job seekersES department

at LO

• Submit

– Application with

personal data

– Certificates for

verification

– Letter of

release/resignation if

necessary

• Meet with business for

interview

• Enter data from job

seekers and businesses

• Check job seekers‟

certificates

• Check letter of

release/resignation

• Perform manual and

automated search

• Print recommendation

letter for job seeker to

take to business

• Contact business for

feedback on interview

• Check Saudisation %

and issue certificate

Businesses

• Submit form with details

on vacancy

• Interview candidate

• Sign contract and

update data at MoL

• Apply for HR

development fund if

needed

Source: Ministry of Labour & Yesser

• Employment

service process is

– Used by Saudi

nationals to get

jobs within the

private sector

– Limited to those

unemployed

• Labour office has

exclusive control

over database

access and job

matching process

Overall description

Average 3 weeks; may

take up to 6 weeks

Prerequisites

preparation 1-2 days;

actual step 1-2 ½ hours

Current process overview

Benefits of redesigning the service

The employment service redesign at the Labor Office will deliver major benefits

for end users and government, which can be realized in a relatively timely manner.

E-enabling the employment service will create benefits due to the high usage of

the service and due to businesses requiring the service to increase their

Saudization percentage. The redesign will reduce the effort and time for

submitting and processing requests and will improve the data quality in a

66


relatively timely manner by making the service accessible online and improving

the chances of a successful match.

The service can be transformed into an e-service relatively quickly based on the

higher-than-average e-readiness of the users with an estimated 35-40% of the job

seekers being reachable via Internet (rough estimate by ES department), and

businesses generally being more "e-ready".

Overview of service redesign

In various interviews and workshops with process owners and stakeholders at the

Riyadh LO and the Ministry of Labor (MoL), four main issues emerged. These are

listed in Exhibit A3, along with possible remedies.

Exhibit A3

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE REDESIGN KEY ISSUES


DescriptionIssue Possible remedies

Matching process

speed

• Matching process may take a long time because of

limited manpower and LO‟s strong manual

involvement in the process

– Data entry done on behalf of job seekers and

businesses resulting in a long backlog

– Unnecessary checks on

• Job seekers‟ certificates

• Letter of release/resignation

• Reasons for business rejecting job seeker

• ES department to disengage from

active manual involvement and to let

job seekers and businesses interact

directly

Access and

scope of service

• Vacancy database only

– Accessible through ES department agents

– To be used for unemployed, i.e., those employed

have to resign first before applying

• Job seekers and businesses to access

database directly

• Database opened up to employed

Data accuracy

• ES department uses businesses‟ input to get the

number of Saudis working per business, leading to

inaccurate data

• ES is thus forced to check the data with GOSI to be

able to issue the Saudisation certificate

• Discontinue using ES department‟s

own database (based on business‟s

input)

• Number of Saudis for Saudisation

certificate to be based on GOSI data

(online access)

• Number of expats to be received from

National Information Center at MoI

• Link to public sector employment

through MoCS

Value-added

services

• ES department is only doing a matching service

based on input from job seekers and businesses

• ES department can add value through

– Providing counselling

– Keeping profiles of job seekers

Without numbers

Data accuracy: First, the ES department has access only to inaccurate data

and therefore needs to cross-check with the General Organization for

Social Insurance (GOSI).

Matching process speed: Second, the ES department's limited manpower

and various manual tasks performed on behalf of job seekers/businesses

67


have the aggregate effect of substantially slowing down the matching

process.

Access and scope of service: Third, only ES department agents can access

the database, which delays the matching process and restricts the service to

the unemployed.

Value-added services: Fourth, the ES department is currently occupied

with the matching service and does not have the resources to perform

value-added services such as counselling job seekers on their

qualifications.

Given the issues and remedies described in Exhibit A3, the joint team from MoL,

LO, and YESSER identified the target solution shown in Exhibit A4. This solution

aims at changing the role of the ES department from an active broker between job

seekers and businesses to an enabler of the matching process with database

management responsibilities.

Exhibit A4

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. TARGET SOLUTION: EMPLOYMENT SERVICE TO BE DIRECT BETWEEN

JOB SEEKERS AND BUSINESSES

Recommended process overview

Function • Enter data online

• Search database directly

for suitable vacancies

• Submit certificates and

letter of release/

resignation directly to

business if requested

• Meet with business for

interview; matching and

interview notification

both online

• Issue Saudisation

certificate based on

GOSI and MoI data

• Database management

– Removal of old resum-

es and vacancies

– Automated notification

in case of match

– Blacklisting busi-

nesses if not

conforming to

minimum salary

• Counselling to

unqualified job seekers

and businesses unable

to recruit

• Provide mechanism to

help unqualified job

seekers in coordination

with GOTEVoT* and

private sector

• Enter vacancy data

online

• Search database directly

for suitable job seekers

• Interview candidate and

check certificates and

letter of release/

resignation

• Sign contract and update

LO database directly

online

• Apply for HR develop-

ment fund online if

needed

* General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training


• Job seekers and

businesses to

interact and access

database directly

• ES department‟s

role to be limited to

database

management and

providing value-

added services

Overall descriptionJob seekers

ES department

at LO

Businesses

The key changes of this target solution are as follows:

68


Direct access to MoL recruitment portal for job seekers and

businesses: Job seekers and businesses will directly enter their information

into the MoL recruitment portal and will be able to search it without the ES

department acting as a broker.

Disengagement of ES department from active manual involvement:

The ES department will: (i) delegate checking job seekers‟ certificates and

letters of release/resignation to businesses; (ii) issue Saudization certificate

based only on numbers of Saudis/expats received from databases of GOSI/

MoI; (iii) no longer be responsible for assessing businesses' feedback if

they reject the job seeker (businesses need only to update ES database if

they employ job seekers or, in case of rejection, enter reasons for

rejection).

Offering of value-added services by ES department: This new role of

the ES department will free up resources to provide value-added services,

e.g., counselling to unqualified job seekers and businesses unable to find

the right candidates and keeping employment histories of job seekers.

Horizons for implementation

Implementation of the target solution is divided into two horizons, with horizon 1

delivering first tangible results within twelve months and horizon 2 extending

beyond that up to four years for solutions requiring more time to implement. All

changes of the target solution mentioned above will be implemented in horizon 1

except for counseling which is put into horizon 2, as shown in Exhibit A5.

69


Exhibit A5

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. DIRECT AND AUTOMATED MATCHING PROCESS IN HORIZON 1;

COUNSELLING SERVICES IN HORIZON 2

• Simplify matching procedures at the employment service department– Job seekers and businesses enter data

directly to database– Check on certificates and letter of

release/resignation to be done by business

– Job seekers and businesses to search database directly

– Matching and notification to be automated– Business informs MoL of hiring

• Counsel unqualified job seekers on identifying what career they want and how to get there

• Counsel businesses unable to recruit on causes of inability and how to overcome them

Procedures/

process steps

Change levers

Horizon 1

Horizon 2

• Train all employees on using new software • Train employees on counselling• Assess need to hire counsellorsOrganisation

• Re-confirm with legal department at MoLthat job seekers and businesses can be held responsible for the data they enter

• Not applicableLaws/guidelines

• Provide/develop MoL recruitment portal• Enable online application• Enable direct search• Enable automated matching and notification

• Enable job seekers and businesses to get/access counselling through e-channels e.g., Internet, email, and phone

IT support/

infrastructure

• Shift responsibility and accountability to job seekers and businesses

• Not applicableAccountability of

data


Up to 12 months 1-4 years

IT solution overview

The following key requirements for the IT solution have been identified as

necessary for Horizon 1 implementation:

Allow employers and job seekers to connect directly via the MoL

recruitment portal without manual involvement of the Labor offices.

Employers will report job vacancies via web forms and search the job

seeker database online for suitable candidates. Job seekers will submit their

profile via Web-forms and search the database for suitable job vacancies.

Both employers and job seekers will have to log in prior to using online

job matching to ensure that only Saudi citizens can search for vacant job

positions, and ensure that only properly registered businesses can post job

opportunities on the website.

Based on the review of existing systems a joint team from MoL and YESSER

proposed the following IT solution. All business functionality necessary for the

redesigned process will be implemented in MoL's existing "Manpower" system.

Additionally, integration components will connect website, MoL's “Manpower”

system and the rest of the e-government infrastructure.

70


2) EXPAT LABOR REQUEST


The Expat Labor Request (ELR) department at the Labor Office (LO) issues ELRs

for businesses, which then request visas for expats to enter Saudi Arabia. The

service originates with an ELR application by a business entity along with all

required prerequisites. The request passes through six evaluation levels, where the

number of expats is determined and finally approved by a ministry committee at

MoL. The main steps of the process are shown in Exhibit A6.

Exhibit A6

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. CURRENT PROCESS FOR EXPAT LABOUR REQUEST AT THE LABOUR

OFFICE

1. 2 application forms

2. Original and copy of ID

3. Certificate from GOSI

4. Saudisation certificate for businesses with more than 20

employees

5. Pledge that business exists

6. Original and copy of basis for application, e.g., CR,

municipality permits, building contracts, contracting

plans, etc.

7. Municipality permit of head office of new contracting,

maintenance, and cleaning companies

8. Original departure certificates plus signed and stamped

statement of expat details

9. Supporting statement from agency requesting business,

e.g., ministries

10. Rent contract for business requesting ELR

11. Formal contracting plan of establishment, signed and

stamped by establishment owner

12. Proof of occupation of proxy holder for women

13. Disk with all employees at all businesses of applicant

and match with MoI terminal at IT dept

14. Applicant must be owner, proxy holder, or has

authorisation from Chamber of Commerce

15. Originals of previous valid municipality permits to match

with previous ELR requests

16. Zakat certificate for establishments >1 year old

17. Original and copy of payment receipt for requested ELRs

18. Proxy is not more than 6 months old

19. Check at least one Saudi employed in each petrol

station

19 prerequisites*

ELR coordinator (L1)

ELR controller (L2)

ELR department

Head (L3)

Tally of ELR‟s

LO manager (L4)

Ministry committee

(L5)

LO manager (L4)

Individuals expat

department (L6)

Ministry of Foreign

Affairs***

Current process overview**

• Reviews file

• Makes subjective

recommendation

• Reviews file

• Keeps/reduces

recommendation

• Reviews file

• Keeps/reduces

recommendation

• Prepare tally to send to

ministry for reviewal by

committee

• Checks tally and signs it off

• Sends tally to ministry

• Reviews tally and approves/

reduces LO recommenda-

tion

• Tally goes back to LO for LO

manager to sign on each

ELR file

• Make several checks

• Issue reference number for

approved ELRs

• Receives online notification

of ELR approval from MoL

and informs embassies

Average 3

weeks to 2

months; may

take up to 6

months

* In the order of ELR department list of prerequisites; ** Requests pass through 6 evaluation levels; *** MoFA



The ELR service redesign at the Labor Office will deliver major benefits for end

users and government, which can be realized in a relatively timely manner due to

the service's high e-readiness. E-enabling the ELR service will create benefits due

to the constant and high need for expats. The redesign will reduce the effort and

time for submitting and processing requests and will improve the decision making

process in a relatively timely manner. Furthermore, the service has a high potential

for creating economic value through increased domestic and Foreign Direct

71


Investment (FDI) and by reducing subjectivity in the decision making process. The

service can be transformed into an e-service quickly based on the higher-than-

average e-readiness of target users.



Riyadh LO and Ministry of Labor (MoL), four main issues emerged. These are

shown in Exhibit A7 along with possible remedies.

Exhibit A7

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. THERE ARE 4 ISSUES RELEVANT FOR THE REDESIGN OF ELR SERVICE


Issue Possible remediesDescription

Subjectivity in

ELR assessment

• Objective criteria and automatic online

approval for businesses satisfying these

criteria, e.g., Saudisation %

• Subjective decision making for others

based on file review

• Number of approved expats for the same case

changes from evaluator to evaluator

• Committee decides on number of visas based on a

list, without having access to the applicant‟s file

Complex and

long procedures

• Delegate ELR approvals to LO managers• Ministry to do online sample checks on

LO managers‟ decisions• Merge compatible requirements and

eliminate unnecessary ones

• Other requirements to be obtained online

from other ministries

• Applications are reviewed by six levels of evaluation

regardless of the number of visas requested

– ELR coordinator

– ELR controller

– ELR department head

– LO manager

– Ministry committee

– Expat department for individuals

• Prerequisites for ELR are too many and require

visits to several ministries for needed physical

papers

Extra-ELR

requirements

• Delegate all extra-ELR requirements to

their respective ministries

• Need to check for Zakat, traffic penalties, and social

insurance before approving ELR

• Real estate development fund to be added soon as

an extra-ELR requirement

• Applicants need to physically visit ELR department

to apply and check on the status of their applications

• New businesses are still asked to get clearance from

social insurance despite still having no employees

Lack of focus on

customers

• Enable e-application and follow-up

through e-channels

• Review ELR prerequisites and customise

them for applicants

Without numbers

Subjectivity in ELR assessment: First, the number of approved expats

changes from one person to another for the same case because subjectivity

is the basis for the decision for most cases. This causes frustrations for

applicants and takes substantial time from ELR department employees.

Complex and long procedures: Second, all applications are reviewed by

six evaluation levels regardless of the number of visas requested. The last

two levels consist of the LO manager and a ministry committee. This long

approval procedure is inefficient for both applicants and decision makers.

Also, ELR‟s 19 prerequisites make applying for ELR a very long process.

72


Extra-ELR requirements: Third, some ELR prerequisites are unrelated to

ELRs, e.g., Zakat, social insurance, and traffic penalties.

Lack of focus on customers: Fourth, applicants need to go physically to

ELR department to apply and to follow up on the status of their

applications. Also, some of the requirements are asked of all applicants

regardless of whether they are relevant to their status or not (e.g., an

employer with no expats is asked for his social insurance record to check

his Saudization percentage).

Based on the issues and remedies described in Exhibit A7, the joint team from

MoL, LO, and YESSER identified the target solution shown in Exhibit A8, aiming

at simplifying the application procedure for ELRs by automating and reducing the

numbers of steps applications have to go through.

Exhibit A8

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. TARGET SOLUTION: OBJECTIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AND

ONLINE CHECKING OF PREREQUISITES

• 1 online application

form to combine 2

previous application

forms and pledge

• Online checking with

– MoI* on

• ID

• List of all expats

• Departure

certificates of

expats

• Traffic penalties

– MoCI* on Com-

mercial

Registration

Number

– GOSI on list of

employed Saudis

– MoMRA* on

municipality

permits

– DZIT*on Zakat

certificate

• Online fees payment

10 online prerequisites

Business

Automated check

of prerequisites

Online approval

Issuance of ELR

MoFA


• Submits application online

• Sets number of expats

needed

• All prerequisites checked

automatically by system

LO manager

Cases passing preset critieria

Cases not passing/with no

preset criteria

Issuance of ELR

MoFA• Inform embassies

online of approval

• Reviews file online

• Makes final

decision on system

• Updated application

status

– On MoL website

– By email to

applicant

• Automated genera-

tion of reference

number; sent online

to MOFA

• Decision entered

automatically into

system

• Automated genera-

tion of reference

number; sent online

to MOFA

• Inform embassies

online of approval

Ministry audit of

decision**

Enforcement of strict field inspections

and severe penalties for businesses not applying

Rules of Work and Labour

* MoI: Ministry of Interior; MoCI: Ministry of Commerce & Industry; MoMRA: Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs; DZIT:

Department of Zakat and Income Taxes; **Audit on sample decisions and is made post-decision


ELR department• Reviews file online

• Makes recommen-

dation on system


Simplifying the application procedure: Businesses, rather than the LO or

the MoL, decide on the number of expats they need. Once the automated

and simplified prerequisites are checked and the file passes preset objective

73


criteria, the ELR request is automatically approved. If the request does not

pass the criteria or there are no preset criteria for the case, it goes through a

manual evaluative process.

Enforcing penalties for businesses not applying Rules of Work and

Labor: Strict field inspections will be made more frequently and

businesses not satisfying the Rules of Work and Labor, e.g., by having

loose labor, will be heavily penalized.


The implementation of the target solution is divided into two horizons, with

horizon 1 delivering first tangible results within twelve months and horizon 2

extending beyond that up to four years for solutions requiring more time to

implement. In horizon 1, applications satisfying the objective criteria will get

automated approval, while those not passing or having no preset criteria will go

through an evaluative process. In horizon 2, the criteria will be revised to ensure

they are realistic and applications not satisfying the criteria will be automatically

rejected and will not go through a manual evaluative process. Exhibit A9 details

the two horizons.

Exhibit A9

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. AUTOMATED APPROVAL FOR BUSINESSES SATISFYING OBJECTIVE

CRITERIA IN HORIZON 1; REVISION OF SAUDISATION TARGETS IN

HORIZON 2

• Business decides on number of expats needed

• Automated approval for businesses satisfying criteria • Businesses not satisfying criteria or cases with no

preset criteria go through subjective evaluation process– Delegate ELR approval to LO manager– LO manager delegates approval for small requests

to ELR department head – Ministry to do online sample checks on LO

managers‟ decisions• Enforcement of severe penalties on businesses not

applying Rules of Work and Labour• Eliminate unnecessary prerequisites and obtain

others online• Data for Saudisation to be obtained directly from

GOSI and MoI

• Review Saudisation targets to make them more realistic and in line with what jobs Saudis would accept

• Automatic rejection for businesses not satisfying Saudisation %

Procedures/

process steps

Change levers

Horizon 1

Horizon 2

• Re-confirm with legal department at MoL that no laws contradict with the new solution

• Review Saudisation targets

Laws/guidelines

• Business decides on number of expats needed and

is held responsible for them• Subjective decisions limited to businesses not

satisfying criteria or those without preset criteria

• Not applicableAccountability/

control

• Set up MoL website enabling businesses to apply and pay for ELRs online

• Link ELR department to GOSI, MoI, MoCS, & MoCI

• Link ELR department to municipalities IT support/

infrastructure

Source: Ministry of Labour & Yesser Up to 12 months 1-4 years

• Train employees on using system

Organisation

• Not applicable

74





Allow businesses to submit expat labor requests via the MoL website

Automate necessary checks of prerequisites for granting expat labor

permits (e.g., automatically check the validity of the commercial registry

and Saudization percentage, obtain security clearance for business owner)

Retrieve the most current data required for the checks from the most

accurate data source

Commercial registration data from Ministry of Commerce and Industry

(MoCI).

Expat records and security clearance from Ministry of Interior (MoI).

Zakat data from Department of Zakat and Income Tax (DZIT).

Social insurance records from General Organization for Social

Insurance (GOSI).

In case of approval, process payments online and notify both the sponsor

and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) electronically (through MoI

system) about expat labor permits granted.



redesigned process will be implemented in MoL's existing „Manpower‟ system.

Additionally, integration components will connect website, MoL's „Manpower‟


75


3) WORK PERMIT


The Work Permit (WP) department at the Labor Office (LO) issues/renews work

permits for expatriates, which are then used as prerequisites for the issuance/

renewal of residency permits. The process starts with the business providing

employees data to the LO on a floppy disk and paying the WP fee at the bank

branch located at the WP department. The WP department then checks

authorization of the person delivering the passport, consistency of data, validity of

Commercial Registration/Municipal Permit, restriction of jobs to Saudis, and

Saudization record. If all the prerequisites are in order, the WP is issued and

handed out to the business representative. The main steps of the process are shown

in Exhibit A10.

Exhibit A10

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. CURRENT PROCESS FOR WORK PERMIT AT THE LABOUR OFFICE

Current process overview

Function

Data

registration

Request

processing

• Save data on

floppy disk

• Pay fee at bank

• Upload data from

floppy disk to

system at LO

computer depart-

ment

• Bring passport to

WP department

• Check

– Authorisation of

person delivering

passport

– Consistency of

data on system

with passport

– Valid commercial

register/municip-

al permit

– Saudi restricted

jobs

– Saudisation %

Issuance

• Issue physical WP


Overall description

2-4 hours

Expat labour

request at

Labour Office

Entry visa at

MoFA and

embassies

Residency

permit at

Passport

Dept at MoI

Work permit

at Labour Office

Work permit

process is

• Requested by

businesses for

their employ-

ees to be able

to work in

Saudi Arabia

• Then used as

a prerequisite

for the

issuance/

renewal of

residency

permits

½ - 1 hour


The work permit service redesign at the Labor Office will deliver major benefits

for end users and government, which can be realized in a timely manner. E-

76


enabling the WP service will have high impact due to the importance of expat

labor for government and businesses, and high volumes of usage (applicable for

~6 million expatriates). The redesign will reduce the effort and time for submitting

and processing requests, making the service simpler, faster, and less costly for

businesses in a relatively timely manner by eliminating process redundancies and

by checking prerequisites directly with government agencies. Furthermore, the

service has a high potential for creating economic value through increased

domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The service can be transformed

into an e-service relatively quickly based on the higher than average e-readiness of

the business target users and the limited complexity of the process, with only two

departments involved in the process, the work permit and computer departments.



Riyadh LO and Ministry of Labor (MoL), four main issues emerged. They are

shown in overview in Exhibit A11, along with possible remedies.

Exhibit A11

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. THERE ARE 4 ISSUES RELEVANT FOR REDESIGN OF WP SERVICE


DescriptionIssue Possible remedies

Permit

redundancy

• Based on issuance of WPs, residency permits are

issued and renewed

• Residency permit includes all the information of the

WP

• Merge WP and residency permit in

one document, eliminating the WP

process as an interim step and

issuing the residency permit directly

after making all necessary checks

Lack of user

centricity

• The WP is issued at MoL and based on that the

residency permit is issued at MoI

• Handle documents in one

department

Physical WP

certificate a

logistical issue

• There are several inherent risks and problems in

having a physical certificate

– Blank WP certificates have monetary value, thus

requiring treasurer

– WP employees have to keep WP in safe deposit

and are responsible for possible loss

– Applicants may lose WP and are forced to go back

to LO to issue replacement and pay fees

• Eliminate the WP physical

certificate, just have e-WP

Physical

prerequisites

required

• Some prerequisites for the WP must be obtained by

the applicant in physical form (not electronic)

– Commercial Registration

– Municipality permits

– Printout of Saudi employees

– Printout of expats

• Link WP department to other

ministries to get prerequisites online

Without numbers

Permit redundancy: First, the residency permit includes all the

information of the WP, and all expats must have residency permits.

77


Lack of user centricity: Second, both WPs and residency permits relate to

expats but the former is issued by MoL through the LO office and the latter

is issued by MoI through the passport department.

Physical prerequisites required: Third, applicants need to submit four

prerequisites to the WP department in physical form: commercial

registration, municipality permits, printout of Saudi employees (from

GOSI terminal at LO) and printout of expats (from MoI terminal at LO).

Physical WP certificate a logistical issue: Fourth, the handling of a

physical WP certificate poses risks since it has monetary value, thus

requiring a treasurer and keeping blank WPs in safe deposit. Also if an

applicant loses his WP, he has to go back to the LO to obtain a new one.

Based on the issues and remedies described in Exhibit A11, the joint team from

MoL, LO and YESSER identified the target solution shown in Exhibit A12,

aiming at making the WP application, processing, payment and approval online.

Exhibit A12

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. TARGET SOLUTION: LO CHECKS PREREQUISITES ONLINE AND SENDS

ONLINE APPROVAL TO MoI


Function

Data

registration

Request

processing

• Register company

or individual online

and apply for WP

online

• Online check for

– Consistency of

data on

application with

passport

– Valid commercial

register/municip-

al permit

– Saudi restricted

jobs

– Saudisation %

based on GOSI

and MoI data

• Change of

occupation and

transfer of

sponsorship still

done at WP

department

Issuance

• Pay fee online

• Issue e-WP to MoI

(MoI to issue

residency permit

with a reference to

the approved WP

and to inform MoL

of issued residency

permit online)


Overall description

Expat labour

request at

Labour Office

Entry visa at

MoFA and

embassies

Residency

permit at

Passport

Dept at MoI

Work permit

at Labour Office

• Businesses to

apply for WP

online

• WP depart-

ment to check

for prerequisi-

tes online and

issue online

WP approval

to MoI


Online application for WP: WP applicants will submit their applications

78


online, thus eliminating the need to come in physically to the WP

department and reducing the time needed to apply.

Online processing of WP: WP department will check for all prerequisites

online with other government agencies.

Online payment of WP fees and approval of WP: Applicants will be

notified online of the status of their applications and will be able to pay the

WP fees online. Accordingly, e-WP approvals will be sent by MoL system

to MoI system, eliminating the need for applicants to pick up physical WP

certificates at LOs to take to MoI to apply for residency permits.





implement. All changes of the target solution mentioned above will be

implemented in horizon 1. In horizon 2, the databases for Saudi-restricted jobs at

MoL and MoI will be unified to maintain consistency. Exhibit A13 details the two

horizons.

Exhibit A13

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. ONLINE PREREQUISITES CHECK AND ISSUANCE IN HORIZON 1;

UNIFY SAUDI-RESTRICTED DATABASE AT MoI AND MoL IN HORIZON 2

• Link MoL to other ministries to check

prerequisites

• MoL to issue and send e-WP rather than a

physical certificate to MoI

• Not applicableProcedures/

process steps

Change levers

Horizon 1

Horizon 2

• Train Mol and MoL employees in using

system

• Not applicable

Organisation

• Check if law requires need for WP certificate • Not applicable

Laws/guidelines

• Set up MoL website enabling businesses to

apply and pay for WPs online

• Link MoL to GOSI, MoI, MoCS for

Saudisation percentage

• Update list of Saudi-restricted jobs online

• Link MoL to MoCI and MoMRA for CR and

permits

• Link MoL & MoI for occupation/sponsor

update and WP approval

• Unify database of Saudi-restricted jobs

between MoI and MoL IT support/

infrastructure

• Keep control at MoL but eliminate fraud by

forged documents due to online checking

• Not applicableAccountability/

control



79





Allow businesses to submit requests for work permits via the MoL

website.

Automate necessary checks of prerequisites for work permits, i.e.,

automatically check validity of commercial registry and restriction of jobs

to expatriates.

Retrieve the most current data required for work permit processing from

the most accurate data source (commercial registry data from MoCI, expat

records from MoI).

In case of approval, process payments online and notify both the sponsor

and MoI electronically about the work permit granted.



redesigned process will be implemented in MoL's existing "Manpower" system.

Additionally, integration components will connect website, MoL's “Manpower”


80


4) PAYMENT ORDER


The payment order (PO) service at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is the backbone

of the payment process for any government agency. All government payments go

through this process to transfer budget funds from the Saudi Arabian Monetary

Agency (SAMA) to a beneficiary within Saudi Arabia. The service originates

within the finance departments of individual government agencies, which fill out a

PO form. This is checked by the financial auditor (internal or MoF) who signs off

before it is delivered to MoF by a messenger. The PO Department at MoF receives

and checks the PO manually, enters it into the system and issues a check, which is

paid out by SAMA to a bank. At the end of the month/year, all payments undergo

an audit by the General Auditing Bureau.

Through its gateway function between government agencies and SAMA, the PO

department/MoF not only exercises a control function for payments, but also

manages the government's liquidity by checking the cash levels at SAMA and

stopping payments in case of need. The main steps of the PO process are

illustrated in Exhibit A14.

Exhibit A14

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. PAYMENT ORDERS ARE USED BY ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO

EXECUTE PAYMENTS

Source: Ministry of Finance; Yesser

Current government payment process overview

Re-

spon-

sibi-

lities

Govern-

ment

agency

Finan-

cial

auditor

MOF PO

Dept.

SAMA/

Banks

• Check

availability

of budget,

correctness

and

complete-

ness of

data, and

supporting

documents

Check

availability of

budget,

correctness of

chapter and

item, and

supporting

documents

• Enter PO data

into MoF system

• Check

correctness and

completeness of

PO data

• Check availability

of budget

• Manage

government

liquidity by

putting payments

on hold if needed

• Issue checks and

send to gov.

agency or SAMA

• Transfer

payments

through bank

to recipient

General

auditing

bureau

• Collect

monthly

closing

reports

• Audit

budget

spending

• Hold MoF

accounta-

ble in case

of mistakes

Payment

request/

order

Payment

order

Check Data on

budget

spending*

Monthly/annual audit

• Process used

by all

government

agencies to

execute

payments

• Numerous

control

instances

involved

• MoF also

managing

government

liquidity

Overall

description

Process

owners

1 day2 daysSeveral days

(incl. wait)

Several days

Data on budget

spending

81



The PO service redesign will deliver major benefits for end users and government,

which can be realized in a timely manner due to high readiness. E-enabling the PO

service will have high impact on the entire government, since it is used by all

agencies, resulting in ~350,000 POs p.a. Redesign will reduce cost and time

needed to execute payments and will improve data quality of payments in a timely

manner. The service has high readiness for transformation into an e-service. Users

are government agencies, which are more "e-ready" than average. Also, MoF has

strong commitment to changing its processes, and process complexity is limited.


In several interviews and workshops with process owners and stakeholders at MoF

and other government agencies, three main issues emerged. These are shown in

overview in Exhibit A15, along with possible remedies.

Exhibit A15

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. THERE ARE 3 MAJOR ISSUES RELEVANT FOR THE REDESIGN OF

PAYMENT ORDER SERVICE AT MOF

Issue Description Possible remedies

• Several control steps repeated by three

institutions in government payment process,

e.g., checking for budget, checking data on

PO form and data entered

• Redundant control steps in

payment process should be

reduced by allowing more

payments from government

agencies to go to SAMA after

merely electronic MoF checking

Overall control

process

redundancies

Control

effectiveness at

PO department

• Control steps within PO department can

cause error by entering and re-entering

data in several steps

• PO department cannot check legality or

purpose of payment, since documents

remain within requesting government

agencies

• Number of intermediaries entering

data should be reduced

• MoF should recede to controlling

budget status and to doing liquidity

management

Effectiveness of

control by

financial

auditors

• Financial auditors cannot properly control

status of budget, since no access to real-

time online budget database

• Lack of financial auditors increases

individual work load and decreases

auditing time

• Financial auditors should get

access to budget database, to do

value added checks on individual

payments

• Data quality should be increased

by automatically validating data in

other ministries‟ databases, e.g.,

MoCISource: Ministry of Finance; Yesser

Overall control process redundancies: First, government agency internal

auditors, financial auditors from MoF and MoF PO department employees

check the PO in almost the exact same manual way.

82


Control effectiveness at the PO department: Second, the MoF PO

department currently runs the risk of causing errors by entering and re-

entering the PO data into the MoF system. Also, it cannot assess the

justification of a payment without supporting documents, which it does not

have.

Effectiveness of control by the financial auditors: Third, currently the

financial auditors can hardly check the availability of budget due to lack of

access to the budget database at MoF and lack of time.

Given the issues and possible remedies described, the joint MoF/YESSER team

identified a target solution, which will allow POs to be passed from government

agencies to SAMA through the MoF system with MoF automatically checking the

salary payments (chapter 1 and 3). All other payments will also go through the

MoF system and will be checked manually by the MoF PO Department. In the

long run, some other payments will be allowed to pass with automated MoF

checking, based on the experience gained. Exhibit A16 gives an overview of the

target process.

Exhibit A16

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. TARGET SOLUTION: DEPENDING ON TYPE OF PAYMENT, POs WILL GO

DIRECTLY THROUGH MOF TO SAMA OR BE CHECKED BY MOF

Overall

description

Depending on

type of payment

PO will

• Either go

directly through

MoF to SAMA

• Or be checked

by MoF PO

dept

Salary

paym

ents*

All other payments

PO entry

• Government

agency‟s

finance dept

enters pay-

ment data in

system

• Passes PO to

financial audi-

tor to check

Automated

data check

MoF system

automatically

checks budget

availability,

commercial

registration

number, National

ID number etc.

Financial

Auditing

• Financial

auditor checks

correctness of

payment

reason, budget

item availabilty

• Digitally signs

off on payment

and sends to

MoF system

Checking by

PO dept

• PO department

checks

correctness of

PO data and of

used budget

item

• MoF checks

liquidity

Path 1: Payment channelled through

MoF without manual MoF checking

Path 2: PO checked and processed

by MoF

Payment

• MoF system

transfers

electronic

check through

SAMA or

prints check

• MoF controls

liquidity

Payment

As above

Depending on level of sophistication

of government agency, MoF checking can be

abolished for more payments

* Other chapter 1 and 3 payments, e.g., end of service awards etc. still to be

checked manually by MoF



83


Reduced control process redundancies for salary payments (chapter 1

and 3, excluding irregular payments, e.g., end of service awards): All

POs will be passed electronically through the MoF system, with salary

payments being checked by the MoF system automatically. All other

payments, including such irregular chapter 1 and 3 payments as end of

service awards, will still be checked by the PO department. In the future,

some more payments from other chapters could also be made directly

without additional auditing in the PO department.

Improved control by MoF PO department: The MoF system will

centrally perform basic checks for National ID number, commercial

registration number, budget availability etc. through links to Ministry of

Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Interior and MoF budget database. The

reduced workload will allow MoF to improve its auditing of the remaining

POs.

Improved control by financial auditors: Internal and MoF financial

auditors will also be able to focus on value-added checking, i.e.,

correctness of justification, budget item/chapter etc, since basic checks will

be done automatically by the MoF system.

Facilitated liquidity management: Since all the payments will still go

through the MoF system, this solution will enable MoF to manage liquidity

precisely, despite not manually checking each PO, and to stop all payments

if necessary to maintain cash reserves.



Horizon 1 delivering first tangible results within twelve months and Horizon 2


implement. In Horizon 1, only a limited number of government agencies will start

transferring POs electronically, and MoF will stop manually checking salary POs

(chapter 1 and 3) for all government agencies. The automated checking logic in

the MoF system will also be implemented in Horizon 1. In Horizon 2 almost all

government agencies will be sending POs electronically, with some also sending

other payments without manual MoF checking. The Horizons are described in

overview in Exhibit A17.

84


Exhibit A17

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. SMALL NUMBER OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES SENDING POs

ELECTRONICALLY IN HORIZON 1; MOST GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

JOINING IN IN HORIZON 2

Horizon 1

Horizon 2

• First ~ 4 government agencies (Ministry of Health,

Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, Ministry of

Communications & IT) send all POs electronically

– Salaries (chapter 1, 3) w/o manual MoF checking

– All other payments still to be checked by MoF

employee

• For all other government agencies PO data still

entered at MoF, but w/ new electronic PO auditing

– Salaries (chapter 1, 3) w/o manual MoF checking


employee

• First ~4 government agencies connected via

integration bus to access MoF, SAMA, MoI, MoCI*

• Set up new MoF system with checking logic

• For first ~4 government agencies some

additional payments without manual checking

by MoF

• Most other government agencies to send all

POs electronically

– Salaries (chapter 1, 3) without manual

checking by MoF


employee

• Most government agencies connected via

integration bus to MoF, SAMA, MoI, MoCI


Procedures/

process steps

Change levers

IT support/

infrastructure

• Adapt Financial Instructions for Budgeting&

Accounting, and amend other PO related rules

to enable new electronic process

• No more changes requiredLaws/guidelines

• Internal financial auditing to be strengthened by

automatic checks and through online access to

budget etc.

• Financial auditors to get direct access to budget

database and more time to check POs

• Fully automated checking system supports

internal auditing

• Consider increasing number of financial

auditors based on experience

Organisation

*Ministry of Commerce & Industry





Ensure the automatic upload of PO data from key government agencies via

electronic interfaces.

Reduce the number of manual control steps by automating checks and

processing on the MoF-system. Automatic control steps will check for

budget availability, the budget item used and correctness of beneficiary's

data.

Ensure effective PO checks by retrieving the most current data for checks

online from the most accurate data source (citizen data of owner from the

MoI, commercial registry data from the MoCI).

After reviewing the existing systems, a joint team from MoF and YESSER


redesigned process will be implemented in the MoF backend system. Additionally,

85


new integration components will be implemented to connect MoF's backend

system and rest of the e-government infrastructure.

86


5) COMMERCIAL REGISTRATION


The commercial registration (CR) service at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry

(MoCI) is a service designed to register businesses and gather key contact/address

and legal data. Businesses with assets above SAR 100,000 and those below the

limit that want to register a trade name are required to register, all others are free

to do so. There is a distinction between: (i) establishments, which have only one

owner (~90% of all CRs) and (ii) companies, which have several owners (~10% of

all CRs). The Commercial Register is currently organized as a one-stop shop, with

users having representatives of all necessary institutions in one place (e.g.,

company dept., Chamber of Commerce (CoC), newspapers to publish their

registration, bank). The process of commercial registration itself is relatively short

(~20 min. on average). However, there are a number of prerequisites, which can

take up to a month to fulfil. The current process is illustrated in Exhibit A18.

Exhibit A18

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. COMMERCIAL REGISTRATION PROCESS WITH ALL ITS PREREQUISITES

EXAMPLE – COMPANIES

Prerequisites

* Not all steps are required in all cases

Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry; Yesser

Current process of obtaining commercial registration at MoCI• Service for

businesses

with assets

>SAR 100,000

and those

below

registering a

name

• Distinction

between

– Establish-

ments (one

owner)

– Companies

(several

owners)

• From user

perspective,

long time

needed for

prerequisites

and for trade

name

registration

Overall

description

Commercial registration

CR

cer-

tifi-

cate

hand-

over

CR

issu-

ing

Data

entry

Fee

pay-

ment

Eli-

gibi-

lity

check

CR

re-

quest

CoC

re-

gis-

tra-

tion

and

fee

20 minutesUp to 30 days Several

days

Trade

name

regis-

tration

(opt-

ional)

Trade

name*

Com-

pany

con-

tract

checked

and

app-

roved

Employ-

ment

status

from

Civil

Affairs

Dept.

Copy

of rent

con-

tract

Permit

for

speci-

fic

busi-

ness

activi-

ty

Obtaining prerequisites*

87



The CR service redesign at MoCI will deliver major benefits for end users and

government, which can be realized in a timely manner due to the service's high e-

readiness. E-enabling the CR service will create benefits due to the high usage of

~120,000 issues/renewals per year. The redesign will reduce the cost and time for

submitting and processing requests and will improve the data quality in a

relatively timely manner. Furthermore, the service has a high potential for creating

economic value through increased domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),

by simplifying the setting-up of a business and making it accessible from

anywhere. The service can be transformed into an e-service relatively quickly

based on the ministry's readiness to change its processes, the higher than average

e-readiness of the target users and the limited complexity of the process.


In several interviews and workshops with process owners and stakeholders at

MoCI and at other government agencies, four major issues emerged. They are

shown in overview in Exhibit A19, along with possible remedies.

Exhibit A19

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. THERE ARE 4 ISSUES RELEVANT FOR THE REDESIGN OF COMMERCIAL

REGISTRATION AT MOCI


• No direct data exchange between Trade

name, Commercial Register and Chamber

of Commerce sections, leading to

duplicate data entries in separate systems

• Company contract issuing process even in

separate department

• Ways to integrate steps avoiding

reduplication of efforts for end user

should be identified

• Company contracts should be

simplified later on due to

complication of legal issues

(companies 10% of total number)

• Some requirements take days to obtain

• Lack of information for business owners

leads to requests not being picked up as

soon as finished (esp. company contracts)

• Uncritical requirements should be

dropped

• Business owners should be

notified about progress of service

Lack of

integration

Gap between

processing and

waiting time

• Political restrictions make trade name

registration subjective

• Only Arabic names allowed, in line with

Islamic values and traditions

• Intransparent selection process

• Businesses <SAR 100,000 obliged to do CR

• Ways to allow wider choice of

trade names should be found

• Online lookup possibility should be

created to speed up search

• Allow small businesses to register

names w/o CR

Restrictive

rules and

regulations

• Certain steps designed to be controls do

not work effectively, e.g., many rent

contracts to check business address are

“virtual”

• Effective control mechanisms

should be identified and others

should be dropped

Redundant

control

mechanisms


88


Lack of integration between process steps: First, within the CR process

there are a number of steps that require the user to fill out forms entering

almost the same data in different systems, e.g., CR registration and CoC

registration.

Gap between processing time and waiting time: Second, the gap

between relatively short processing times and waiting time experienced by

the end user is due to the number of prerequisites with waiting times, and

due to the end user not getting notified about his documents being ready.

Redundant control mechanisms: Third, there are a number of redundant

control mechanisms that do not fulfill any purpose, but cause additional

workload, e.g., requiring a copy of a rent contract.

Restrictive rules and regulations in trade name registration: Fourth,

there are restrictive rules and regulations in the trade name registration

process, which do not allow the selection of foreign trade names, which

complicate finding an Arabic trade name (even if it is not taken), and

which create an additional workload.

Given the issues and solutions described, the joint MoCI/YESSER working team

identified a target solution for streamlining the CR service. Exhibit A20 gives an

overview of the new process and key changes.

89


Exhibit A20

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. TARGET SOLUTION: PREREQUISITES WILL BE SIMPLIFIED AND

PROCESS STEPS INTEGRATED TO IMPROVE SERVICE FOR END USERS

Overall

description

Commercial

registration process

can be organized

more effectively

and efficiently by

• Simplifying

prerequisites

• Integrating

process steps

Integration and modification of process steps

• Integrated form

Limited time to fill form if trade name, CR and

Chamber of Commerce registration can be done in

the same online form

• Integrated fee payment

One electronic payment for all services

• Trade name registration

– Online searchable database

– Allow wider choice of names in business rules,

e.g., in return for fee payment

– Allow trade name registration also w/o CR for

small businesses (< SAR 100,000)

– Publishing on website instead of newspapers

Company

contract

approved

Employ-

ment

status

checked

(automa-

ted)

Permit for

specific

business

activity

Fee

pay-

ment

Eligibi-

lity

check

CR/

CoC

certifi-

cate

issuing

Prerequisites* Commercial registration

Simplification of prerequisites

• Employment status

Eliminate need for print out from Civil

Affairs Dept. by checking data directly

• Copy of rent contract

Eliminate requiring rent contract and

oblige business owner to update address

• Permit for business activity

Conditional CR, valid only with permit, to

be issued before permit is obtained

• Company contract (to be addressed

with separate department)

Speed up legal checking, e.g., by allowing

external lawyers to do legal checking

Trade

name

regis-

tration

(opt-

ional)

Trade

name*

Integra-

ted

CR/CoC

request

* Not all steps are required in all cases


The key changes of this target solution can be grouped into simplification of

prerequisites and integration/modification of process steps.

Simplification of the current prerequisites will mean the following:

Two prerequisites will be completely removed for the user: (i) The

employment status will be automatically checked in the database of

Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Civil Service. (ii) The copy of the rent

contract will be completely abolished and, instead, the business owner will

be responsible for updating his contact details.

The permit for the specific business activity can be obtained, after

receiving a conditional CR, which is only valid together with the permit.

The company contract will remain, but its issuance will be substantially

speeded up, e.g., by allowing external lawyers etc.

Integration and modification of process steps will involve the following:

Integrated form: For CR, Chamber of Commerce and trade name request.

Integrated electronic fee payment: The data as well as the payment will

be split up by the system to ensure that the effort for the user is minimized.

90


Trade name registration: The process of finding an available name

should be facilitated by offering online search capability and online name

registration; business rules for selecting trade names should be simplified;

the final trade name should be published on MoCI's website instead of in

newspapers, saving time and money for business owners; and small

businesses should be allowed to register a trade name without going

through the entire CR process.



Horizon 1 delivering first tangible results within twelve months and Horizon 2

extending another four years beyond that for solutions requiring more time to

implement. In Horizon 1, all changes to the CR service for establishments will be

implemented. Horizon 2 will bring a redesign of the company registration process.

Both horizons are described in Exhibit A21.

Exhibit A21

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. MOST OF THE CR REDESIGN CAN BE DONE IN HORIZON 1; HORIZON 2

WILL SIMPLIFY COMPANY CONTRACTS AND REGISTRATION

Change levers

Horizon 1

Horizon 2


• Simplification of prerequisites

– Rent contract abolished as requirement

– Permit for business activity to be obtained

after conditional CR has been issued

– Company contract issuing simplified by putting

standard forms online

• Simplification of prerequisites for company

contract issuing

– External lawyers instead of MOCI legal

advisors allowed

– CR certificate to be issued by company dept.

directly instead of redirecting to CR dept.

Procedures/

process steps

• Set up online request application and website

• Simplification of prerequisites: online checking for

employment status at Ministry of Interior and

Ministry of Civil Service

• Modification/integration of process steps

– Online searchable trade names database

– Online filling of form for CR, CoC, trade name,

w/o automated processing

– Integrated online fee payment possibility

IT support/

infrastructure

Laws/guidelines • Modification/integration of process steps for trade

name registration

– Modify business rules to allow wider choice of

trade names

– Enable publishing of trade names on website

instead of in newspapers

– Offer name registration independent from CR


91





Allow business owners to register trade names and request commercial

registrations via the website.

Automate basic checks of prerequisites for obtaining a commercial

registration, i.e., check the correctness of business owner‟s personal data

and if owner is not a public employee.

Retrieve the most current data required for the checks from the most

accurate data source (citizen data from MoI, public employment data from

MoCS).

Have only one payment for the entire registration, i.e., one payment for

registration at the Commercial Register and Chamber of Commerce.

After reviewing existing systems, a joint team from MoCI and YESSER proposed

the following IT solution. All business functionality necessary for the redesigned

process will be implemented in a new commercial register backend system.

Additionally, integration components will connect website, MoCI's new backend


92


6) UNIVERSITY ADMISSION


University admission at KSU is the sole responsibility of KSU and consists of two

processes: (i) Competitive admission is used only for medical colleges (~10% of

student intake) and takes place first to ensure that rejected candidates can still

apply for instant admission in other colleges (pre-selection of applicants based on

high school, Kiyass and medical college exam results, interviews, publication of

admission list). (ii) Instant admission is used for colleges with direct admission

and takes place later (students required to attend on specific dates according to

high school and Kiyass results, leading to rejection or instant offer for chosen

college plus hand-in of original high school diploma and confirmation). For both

processes, KSU puts a safety margin on top of the available number of seats to

compensate for students dropping out despite having accepted initially. The two

processes are shown in overview in Exhibit A22.

Exhibit A22


Pre-

selec-

tion

Inter-

view

Medical

college

exam

OVERVIEW OF CURRENT ADMISSION PROCESS AT KSU

100

x

100+x

Accepted

students

100

Students

taking up

seats at KSU

* Percentages just for illustration

Source: King Saud University; Yesser

Overall

description

Current admission processes

UniversityAdmission deptStudents

95-

100%

90-

94%

85-

89%

80-

84%

Pre-selection based on high school/Kiyass

results*

1 week • ~10 days (competitive)

• Same day (instant)

Up to two months

after start of semester

Instant

Admission95-

100%

Competitive

Admission

90-

94%

85-

89%

80-

84%

Admission dates based on high

school/Kiyassresults*

+

Drop-out

levels stable

so far, but unclear

in future

x % safetymargin to handle

drop-outs

1 day

+ pro-

cessing

• Process set by

KSU indepen-

dently from

MoHE or other

universities

• Two processes

– First

competitive

admission

(medical

colleges)

– Then, instant

admission

• Selection

based on high

school, Kiyass,

medical college

exam results

93



The university admission redesign at KSU will deliver major benefits for end users

and KSU, which can be realized quickly due to high e-readiness. E-enabling the

university admission service at KSU will have a high impact due to the service's

high volume of about 20,000 applications annually and its large increase in

distribution reach, if anyone anywhere can apply at the same cost. The redesign

will reduce the cost and time for submitting and processing applications and will

improve the quality of data and selection in a timely manner. The service can be

transformed into an e-service quickly based on the higher-than-average e-

readiness of the student target group and low complexity of the service.


In several interviews and workshops with process owners and stakeholders at KSU

and other government agencies, three main issues emerged. They are shown in

overview in Exhibit A23 along with possible remedies:

Exhibit A23


THERE ARE 3 ISSUES RELEVANT FOR THE REDESIGN OF UNIVERSITY

ADMISSION AT KSU


• KSU has relatively new process of

immediate response on availability at

selected college

• However, leading to “first come, first

serve” problems

• Ensure fairer system by pooling of

applications with instant overview

of availabilities for student based

on minimum requirements

• KSU interested in continuing to request

original high school diploma to prevent

students from registering at another

institution and therefore dropping out

• Find alternative to handing in

original high school diplomas, e.g.,

minimizing effort by mailing

diplomas

• Waiting list allows flexible filling up

of vacant seats due to drop-outs

• Keep minimal safety margin

Instantaneous-

ness limiting

fairness

Need to prevent

students from

holding seats

and dropping

out

Need to fill up

seats in KSU


• University seats are scarce resources in

Saudi Arabia and in high demand due to

student allowances; therefore KSU needs

to ensure filling up of all available seats

• So far drop-out rates stable, leading to

safety margin of students getting accepted

on top of available seats

Instantaneousness limiting fairness: KSU's relatively new system of

instant (direct) admission gives students an immediate answer regarding

94


acceptance at one of their chosen colleges and immediately collects high

school certificates. This, however, may lead to fairness issues due to a

limited "first come, first serve" effect within high school grade groupings.

Need to prevent students from holding seats and dropping out: KSU

has an interest in keeping its current policy, common among all

universities, to ask students accepting a seat at KSU to hand in their

original high school diplomas, which makes a pure online process difficult.

Need to fill up all seats in KSU: KSU has a strong interest to fill all its

seats. To compensate for drop-outs, KSU is putting a safety margin of

students on top of the available seats. There is no experience-based data

yet on drop-out rates in a new online admission system.

Given the issues and solutions described, the joint KSU/YESSER team identified a

target solution for university admission at KSU. The redesign will create two

processes: process I will be used for the medical colleges, and will be similar to

the current competitive entry; process II will be used instead of the current instant

admission. Exhibit A24 gives an overview of the two new processes.

Exhibit A24


Application

pooling

• Applications to

be pooled

online within a

period set by

KSU

Overall

description

• Two application

processes

– Process I:

medical

colleges

– Process II:

other colleges

(~3 weeks

later)

• Applications

pooled, pro-

cessed, and

results announ-

ced online

Application

pooling

• Applications to

be pooled

online within a

period set by

KSU

Application

processing

• Applications

processed

electronically

at end of

application

period set by

KSU

Process I: Medical colleges

Process II: Other colleges (3 weeks later)

Online

acceptance

• Accepted

students

notified to

confirm

acceptance

online

• Appointment to

hand in high

school diploma

Assessment

exam

• Obtain exam

from the

Assessment

Centre before

application for

medical college

Admissions

confirmation

• Students submit

high school

certificates at

appointments to

finalise

admission

Announcement

of results

• Results notifi-

cation sent to

– Accepted

students

– Rejected

candidates

– Waitlisted

students

Processing

waitlists

• After deadline

for handing in

diplomas,

waitlisted stu-

dents asked

to fill up seats

by handing in

diplomas on

specified

dates

• Applications

processed

electronically

at end of

application

period set by

KSU

Application

processing

• Candidates for

interviews will

be notified

Announcement

of results

• Accepted

students not-

ified to submit

high school

diplomas by a

deadline set by

KSU

Admissions

confirmation

Online

Online

TARGET SOLUTION: APPLICATIONS WILL BE POOLED AND HIGH

SCHOOL/ KIYASS DATA WILL BE UPLOADED AUTOMATICALLY

• Decision after

interviews, i.e.,

accept or reject

• Results to be

announced and

students

notified

Interviews


95


There are two main changes in this scenario:

Pooling of all applications over the application period before processing.

Based on the results from high school, Kiyass and medical colleges exam

(only for process I) and certain other criteria like age and high school

graduation date, the applicants will be divided into three groups (two for

process I):

Admission: Best students will be notified of acceptance by

mail/email/sms and on the KSU website. For medical colleges (process

I), they will then have to attend an interview. For all other colleges

(process II), applicants have to confirm acceptance and hand in high

school diplomas on a specific date preventing them from submitting

multiple applications.

Rejection: Other applicants will be notified of inability to offer them a

seat in one of KSU's colleges.

Waiting list (not for process I): There will be a waiting list to

compensate for those accepted students not handing in their high school

diplomas in time or withdrawing their application.

Automated upload of high school, Kiyass and medical colleges exam

(only for process I) results: The upload upon entering the National ID

number will facilitate filling out the online form and verifying information.





implement. In Horizon 1, all changes in the admission processes will be

implemented; however, authentication will still be done by a work-around to avoid

obstacles for user adoption in the beginning, if students have to obtain a password

from MoI before applying. Horizon 2 will add e-government-wide authentication

provided by the Ministry of Interior. The horizons are described in Exhibit A25.

96


Exhibit A25

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. MOST CHANGES ARE WITHIN HORIZON 1; CENTRAL AUTHENTICATION

WILL BE ADDED IN HORIZON 2

Change leversHorizon 1

Horizon 2

• Applications reception online; pooled

over application period and distributed by

smart decision system into accept,

waitlist, reject

• Students to come in person to hand in

high school diplomas

• Online applications to be archived

electronically in database

• Original high school diplomas to be

archived separately

• Online admission application and website

running

• Authentication through smart questions,

e.g., age, high school results etc.

• Notification of students of admission

results by mail/email and on website

• IVR/website as info for waitlisted students

• Link to MoE/Kiyass Test Center

databases for uploading results to

application


Procedures/

process steps

IT support/

infrastructure

Laws/

guidelines

• Authentication through password

distributed by MoI, to be used for all

government services





Allow university applicants to submit their admission request online via

the website or interactive voice response (IVR) system.

Pool applications and automate ranking/selection of applicants for colleges

based on data retrieved from other institutions and students' preferences.

Retrieve the most current data required for checking the eligibility of

students for colleges from the most accurate data source (citizen data from

MoI, high school diplomas from the MoE, Kiyass and medical college

exam results from the Kiyass test center).

Notify users electronically about results of the admission process

(i) publish results on the website and through IVR, (ii) notify applicants via

e-mail, (iii) process waitlist and notify waitlisted students when their status

changes.

97


After reviewing existing systems, a joint team from KSU and YESSER proposed

the following IT solution. All business functionality necessary for the redesigned

process will be implemented in the existing KSU backend system and a new

middleware component. Additionally, new integration components will connect

the website, KSU's backend system and the rest of the e-government

infrastructure.

98


7) BUSINESS AND APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE FOR THE

PILOT SERVICES

To conclude the description of the pilot service implementation, this section gives

an overview of both the business and application architecture for all pilot

processes and the underlying design principles. The business architecture

describes all services provided by the IT solution while the application

architecture defines the target application landscape for the pilot phase of

implementation. For business and application architecture, the same concept was

applied to each of the six pilot processes. The business and application

architecture for each individual pilot process is described in more detail in the

implementation blueprint for the pilot process, which was developed in co-

operation with the respective government agency and will used by it as the basis

for selecting a vendor and implementing the project.

Business architecture

The business architecture was designed following the Service-Oriented-

Architecture (SOA) approach. Under this concept,

The business logic is modularized and presented as services.

Services have clearly defined interfaces that are independent of

implementation.

Services are clustered in homogenous blocks, called domains.

Clear ownership and responsibilities are assigned for domains.

Services can be invoked by users or systems, performing specified tasks.

Applying these design principles to the pilot processes resulted in a business

architecture with 18 domains. Thereof, 9 domains provide pilot process related

services, i.e., services specific to one pilot process; 10 domains provide support

services that are used for several processes.

Exhibit A26 shows an overview of all services required for the pilot processes.

99


Exhibit A26

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE: BUSINESS DOMAINS AND

SERVICES FOR PILOT PROCESSES

MoCS

Public employment

Shared services (i.e., used in multiple processes):

MoCI

Authorisation*

MoI

Expat

MoCI

Commercial registry (CR)

SADAD

• Confirm payment

Payment collection

Dept. of Zakat & Income Tax

ZAKAT

GOSI

Social security

MoI

Citizen

MoI

User

Domain

Owner

Services

• Get payment • Get employment

status

• Get ZAKAT record• Get social insurance

record

• Register trade name

• Publish trade name

• Apply for CR

• Check CR prerequisites

• Issue CR certificate

• Get CR record

• Grant authorisation

• Revoke authorisation

• Check authorisation

• Create identity

• Modify/delete identity

• Authenticate user

• Get expat record

Process - related services:

MoL

Job seeker

• Create/modify job

seeker profile

Employer

KSU

Education

• Submit admission request• Check eligibility• Submit admission request• Select students• Notify student• Admit/reject student• Process waitlist

CoC membership

Chamber of commerce

• Subscribe to CoC

MoF

Payment order

• Check PO -beneficiary

• Approve/reject PO

• Check budget

availability

MoL

ERP

Agencies**

• Submit PO data

Kiyass test center

Test results

• Get Kiyass results

• Get medical college exam

results

MoE

Diploma

• Get High school diploma

SAMA

• Transfer payment

• Report transfer

Transfer

• Search for suitable job

seekers

• Get job vacancies

• Create/modify job vacancy

• Report closing of job

vacancy

• Create ELR

• Check ELR

• Approve/reject expat

labour request

• Calculate saudisation

• Notify MOI

• Request work permit

• Check work permit request

• Check trade name

availability

* To act on behalf of company

** 3-4 agencies for a pilot phase

Source: Yesser

• Get citizen record

• Get security clearance

• Check budget availability


Application architecture

When designing the application architecture for the pilot processes, the following

goals were pursued:

Avoid duplication of functionality in agencies by building on shared

infrastructure provided by YESSER (e.g., user interaction toolkit).

Use existing systems if technologically feasible to ensure short delivery

time and low implementation cost (e.g., use existing MoL „Manpower‟

backend system).

Ensure accessibility of all information needed across government agencies

and storage of information with as little redundancy as possible

Exhibit A27 shows an overview of the application architecture for the

implementation of the pilot processes.

100


Exhibit A27

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE FOR PILOT PROCESSES

* Chamber of Commerce

Source: Yesser

KSU back-

end

Adapter Adapter Adapter Payment

gateway

Authentication

gatewayOther institutions

KSU MoL MoCI MoF

KSU

Website

MoL

website

MoCI

websiteE-government portal

Busi-

ness

logic

com-ponent

Adap-

ter Integration

bus

Pilot processes

MoL

backend

MoCI

backend


MoF

backend

• MoCS

• GOSI

• ZAKAT dept.

• MoHE

• Kiyass

• CoC*

• MoH

Intranet portal

SADAD MoI MoCI

Components to be

implemented and

managed centrally


All pilot agencies will use the shared e-government infrastructure provided by

YESSER, such as authentication, payment services, and an integration bus to

provide connectivity between the different agencies.

101


A-2 Category 2 E-Services Projects

As mentioned earlier at the beginning of this section, 20 government services have

been selected as Category 2 services. Just like Category 1 pilot services, the

Category 2 services were identified using a top-down approach (in interaction with

government agencies) by applying the defined impact and readiness criteria, on

which they scored very high.

For Category 2 services, the top-down approach to service identification should be

complemented by a bottom-up approach. The 20 Category 2 services identified by

the top-down approach serve as the "pool" of prime candidates for implementation

immediately after successful implementation of the six Category 1 pilot services.

If, however, individual government agencies regard some of their services which

are not included in this "pool" as having more impact and higher readiness, then

these agencies can implement the services they identified bottom-up instead of the

Category 2 services having been identified top-down.

The remainder of this section firstly provides an overview of the different kinds of

Category 2 services selected; then describes the 20 selected services briefly and

finally explains how some of these services could be combined into clusters and

implemented together.

Overview of the different kinds of selected Category 2 services

Apart from selecting services with very high impact and readiness, the goal of

identifying Category 2 services was to arrive at a well-balanced mixture of

different kinds of services that constitutes a good combination of various aspects:

Different end user groups

The 20 Category 2 services should address all of the end user groups

and should be a balanced mixture of Government-to-Citizen,

Government-to-Business and Government-to-Government services.

Thus, the selected services comprise: 12 Government-to-Citizen,

5 Government-to-Business and 3 Government-to-Government services.

102


Different host agencies

The 20 Category 2 services should involve a variety of host agencies in

order to introduce – after the more focused pilot service phase – e-

service redesign more broadly to different government agencies.

Thus, the selected services involve 11 different host agencies.

Different themes

The 20 Category 2 services should address various themes so as to

spread usage of e-services to different kinds of government offerings.

Thus, the selected services address, among others, municipal issues,

business set-up issues, government budget issues and personal

document issues.

Exhibit A28 shows the 20 selected Category 2 services in overview, ordered by

type of service and theme:

Exhibit A28

CATEGORY 2: SERVICES BY TYPE OF SERVICE

No. Themes Type Services Host agency

1 Setting up a company. Running a company.

G2B

Commercial Shop Permit Municipalities

2 Government payments to beneficiaries Ministry of Finance

3 Zakat certificate issuance Department of Zakat

4 Employee registration for insurance

General Organization for Social Insurance

5 MoCI Permit (Professional Services Permit)

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

6 Labor issues. Housing. Health. Official documents. Municipality.

G2C

National ID Civil Affairs Department

7 Family ID Civil Affairs Department

8 Birth certificate Civil Affairs Department

9 Driver's License Traffic Department

10 Residency permit (Iqama) Passport Department

11 Saudi Passport Passport Department

12 Municipality Violations Services Municipalities

13 New file at medical centre Ministry of Health

14 Employment service - general Ministry of Civil Service

15 Employment visa Ministry of Foreign Affairs

16 Proxy (Power of attorney) service Ministry of Justice

17 Loans for real estate development

Real-estate Development Fund

103


18 Budget Issues. Civil Service.

G2G

Budget funding / transfer of allocation of budgetary items Ministry of Finance

19 Promotion of civil servants Ministry of Civil Service

20 Job Services - Ministry of Civil Service Source: Yesser


Brief descriptions of the selected Category 2 services

In this section, a brief description is given, first, of what each of the selected

Category 2 services provides and, second, of the goal of redesigning it.

Government-to-Citizen services

1. Government employment service: This service from Ministry of

Civil Service offers government job vacancies. The redesign goal is to

provide all government vacancies online in one place and to allow

online applications as well as notifications.

2. Loans for real-estate development: This service is provided by the

Real-Estate Development Fund to citizens requesting a real-estate loan.

The redesign goal is to speed up the service, make it available online,

create a notification service, make loan status transparent and allow

electronic payment.

3. Creating new file at medical centres: This service is required by

anyone visiting a medical centre for the first time. The redesign goal is

to e-enable the process of opening a medical file at the nearest medical

centre so as to allow better treatment.

4. Visa requests, e.g., employment visa: This service provides

employment visa to foreign citizens. The redesign goal consists in

setting up a visa engine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to allow

online application/issuance for all types of visas, with the employment

visa as the first visa service to be redesigned/e-enabled, and to later

include other types of visas as well.

5. Power-of-attorney service: This service from Ministry of Justice is

offered to citizens who would like to entrust someone else to perform

official acts for them. The redesign goal consists in speeding up the

104


processing and making validity information of power-of-attorneys

available online.

6. National ID service: This service from Civil Affairs Department is

offered to all citizens who would like to request or renew a National ID.

The redesign goal consists in speeding up the processing and allowing

online requests and automated renewals for citizens anywhere.

7. Family ID service: This service from Civil Affairs Department is

offered to all citizens who would like to request or change their Family

ID. The redesign goal consists in facilitating requests of and changes to

Family IDs for citizens anywhere.

8. Passport service: This service from Passport Department is offered

to all citizens who would like to request or renew a passport. The

redesign goal consists in simplifying the request/renewal and making it

available online for citizens anywhere.

9. Driver's license service: This service from Traffic Department is

offered to all citizens who would like to request or renew a driver's

license. The redesign goal consists in simplifying the request/renewal

and making it available online for citizens anywhere.

10. Birth certificate service: This service from Civil Affairs

Department is offered to all citizens who would like to request a birth

certificate for their children. The redesign goal consists in simplifying

the request/renewal and making it available online for citizens

anywhere.

11. Residency permit service: This service from Passport Department

is offered to all expatriates who would like to request or renew a

residency permit after having received a visa. The redesign goal consists

in simplifying the request/renewal and making it available online.

12. Municipal fine payment: This service allows the settlement of all

fines at the Ministry of Municipalities. The redesign goal is to enable

citizens to look up and pay fines online.

Government-to-Business services

105


13. MoMRA permits, e.g., commercial store permit: This service is

required for trade shops and is needed along with commercial

registration. The redesign goal is to set up a permit engine at MoMRA

for online application/issuance of all MoMRA permits, to have the

commercial store permit as the first permit to be redesigned/e-enabled

and later include other types of permits as well.

14. MoCI permits, e.g., professional services permit: This service is

required for any Saudi individual, who wants to practice certain

professions, e.g., engineering. The redesign goal is to set up a permit

engine at MoCI for online application/issuance of all MoCI permits, to

have the professional services permit as the first permit to be

redesigned/e-enabled and later include other types of permits as well.

15. Zakat certificate issuing (incl. payment etc.): This type of service

is required for businesses that need to carry out Zakat payments and

who need proof of payment as a prerequisite for other services. The

redesign goal consists in limiting the need for interaction and making

access easier and faster.

16. Employee registration for social insurance: This service of GOSI

is required for businesses hiring a new employee and is the basis for

Saudization quotas. The redesign goal is to speed up the process for

businesses, reduce the workload for GOSI and facilitate checks for

correctness.

17. Government payments to beneficiaries: This service is offered by

all government agencies accepting contractor invoices and triggers the

payment order process based on ministry-internal approval procedures.

The redesign goal is to make this process work in a paperless and faster

way and to link it to the payment order pilot service (also, the service

should be integrated with the e-procurement project, if possible, in later

stages of the program).

Government-to-Government services

18. Budget funding/transfer of allocation of budget item: This

service of the Ministry of Finance is used by government agencies to

106


allocate budgets and reallocate parts of them. The redesign goal is to

make the process faster and more transparent and to link it to the budget

database and include a notification function.

19. Civil servant promotions: This service of the Ministry of Civil

Service is paper based and is used for promotions of government

employees. The redesign goal consists in making it more transparent to

follow the status of processing and to allow paperless execution.

20. Job services (title rename, grade): This service is used to change a

position's title or level, not the individual employee's level. The redesign

goal consists in speeding up the process and allowing more efficient

government internal position changes.

Combination of the 20 selected Category 2 services into clusters

Some of the 20 selected Category 2 services could be combined into clusters –

according to the type of service they belong to and the theme they address – along

the lines of the idea of clustering introduced in Section II. A short description of

potential clusters for which this may be useful is given in the text below. The

clusters described could, of course, be expanded by adding further services once

Category 3 services are implemented, and new clusters may also be identified.

Also, the pilot services may be fitted into certain clusters.

Government-to-Citizen services clusters

Personal documents – "Your document needs": Since many

interactions of individuals with government are about required

documents, this cluster aims to simplify obtaining those documents. It

includes the Ministry of Interior's National ID, family ID, passport,

driver's license, birth certificate and residency permit services; all

services have high usage.

Government-to-Business services clusters

Business – "One-stop shop for business": Facilitating the setting-up

of private sector businesses is a high priority for Saudi Arabia. Among

the pilot services, commercial registration plays an important role. The

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"One-stop-shop" cluster could incorporate the Category 2 service Zakat

payment and later on other Category 3 services.

MoMRA permits – "All local business permits": Building on the

MoMRA permit engine to be implemented along with the Category 2

commercial store permit service, this cluster could integrate all kinds of

local business permits issued by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural

Affairs.

MoCI permits – "Professional/commercial permits": Like the above

MoMRA permits cluster, the MoCI permits cluster could be based on

the permit engine to be implemented along with the Category 2

professional services service and integrate all kinds of MoCI permits.

Labor – "Managing your work force": One crucial factor for

businesses in Saudi Arabia is managing the work force. Work force-

related services for businesses are already featured prominently in the

pilot services with the expat labour request and the work permit. From

the Category 2 services, employee registration for social insurance could

be added to this cluster with more Category 3 services to join later.

Government-to-Government services clusters

Civil service – "Intra-governmental services": E-government will be

beneficial for government, its employees and citizens who would like to

enter the civil service. Government will handle its internal proceedings

more effectively. Civil servant promotions and other job services can be

added, thus facilitating government-internal job related processes and

procedures.

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A-3 Category 3 e-Services Projects

As described at the beginning of this section, 124 government services have been

identified as Category 3 services. Just like Category 1 and 2 services, the Category

3 services have been identified using a top-down approach (in interaction with

government agencies) by applying the defined impact and readiness criteria, on

which they score high. Similarly, just as Category 2 services serve as prime

candidates for implementation after pilot services implementation, Category 3

services serve only as prime candidates for the next phase. If government agencies

identify other services bottom-up which have higher impact and readiness, they

can implement those services instead. Moreover, just like the Category 1 pilot

services and the Category 2 services, the Category 3 services can be added to the

existing clusters or may, if need be, be combined into new clusters.

The remainder of this section first provides an overview of the different kinds of

Category 3 services selected and then classifies them by service type and host

agency.

Overview of the different kinds of Category 3 services

As with pilot services and Category 2 services, there is a well-balanced mixture of

different kinds of services that constitutes a good combination of various aspects:

Different end user groups: The 124 Category 3 services address all end

user groups and display a mixture of Government-to-Citizen, Government-

to-Business and Government-to-Government services. The services

comprise: 62 G2B, 57 G2C and 5 G2G services.

Different host agencies: The 124 Category 3 services involve a variety of

host agencies, which will help bring e-government and e-service redesign

to a very broad cross-section of government agencies. There are 34

government agencies in total, 16 ministries and 18 agencies, hosting the

124 services.

Different themes: The 124 Category 3 services address a broad variety of

different themes ensuring that e-government spreads across different kinds

of government services, among others, family, health and consumer

protection issues.

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Exhibit A29: Category 3 G2B services


No. Service name Host Agency

1 Agricultural loan request Agricultural Bank

2 Project funding request Agricultural Bank

3 Travel agency permit General Authority of Civil Aviation

4 Chamber of Commerce Membership registration Chamber of Commerce

5 ISP permit Communication and Information Technology Commission

6 Internet domain registration Communication and Information Technology Commission

7 Customs clearance permit Department of Customs

8 Customs clearance service Department Of Customs

9 Social insurance certificate issuance General Organization for Social Insurance

10 Employee salary contribution (minimum salary) Human Resource Development Fund

11 First time employee qualification on the job Human Resource Development Fund

12 Animal farm permit Ministry of Agriculture

13 Poultry farm permit Ministry of Agriculture

14 Agricultural project permit Ministry of Agriculture

15 Fish farm permit Ministry of Agriculture

16 Customs Exemption Ministry of Commerce & Industry

17 Commercial name registration Ministry of Commerce & Industry

18 Country of origin certificate for imported goods Ministry of Commerce & Industry

19 Commercial disputes Ministry of Commerce & Industry

20 Commercial agencies permit Ministry of Commerce & Industry

21 Exhibition permit Ministry of Commerce & Industry

22 Import permits Ministry of Commerce & Industry

23 Hotels and furnished apartments permit Ministry of Commerce & Industry

24 Bakery permit Ministry of Commerce & Industry

25 Real estate public offering Ministry of Commerce & Industry

26 Jeweler permit Ministry of Commerce & Industry

27 Chemical goods sanctioning Ministry of Commerce & Industry

28 Private school permit Ministry of Education

29 Umrah travel agent permit Ministry of Hajj

30 In-Saudi Hajj travel agent permit Ministry of Hajj

31 Medical centre permit Ministry of Health

32 Pharmacy permit Ministry of Health

33 Private College/university permit Ministry of Higher Education

34 Software rights registration Ministry of Culture and Information

35 Work permit for Marriage Sheikh Ministry of Justice

36 Expat labor sourcing service Ministry of Labour

37 Labor dispute Ministry of Labour

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No. Service name Host agency

38 Taxi permit Ministry of Transportation

39 School transportation permit Ministry of Transportation

40 Car rental permit Ministry of Transportation

41 Goods transportation permit Ministry of Transportation

42 Transportation permit for Hajj/Omra Ministry of Transportation

43 Female teachers transportation permit Ministry of Transportation

44 Medical Certificates issuance Municipalities

45 Wedding hall permit Municipalities

46 Gas station permit Municipalities

47 Women sewing/tailoring institution permit Municipalities

48 Coffee shop (shisha) permit Municipalities

49 Internet café permit Municipalities

50 Workshop permit (e.g. mechanic, woodwork, ironsmith, etc.) Municipalities

51 Change of activity / change of location Municipalities

52 Real estate plan permit Municipalities

53 Freight unloading permit Ports Authority

54 Foreign Investment permit (Joint Ventures) Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority

55 Industrial loans Saudi Industrial Development Fund

56 Postal services Permit Saudi Post

57 Import permits for medical equipment Saudi Food and Drugs Agency

58 Customs clearance of medicine Saudi Food and Drugs Agency

59 Quality certificate request Saudi Arabia Standards Organization

60 Training centre establishment permit Technical and Vocational Training Corp

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Exhibit A30: Category 3 G2C services



1 Personal rights complaint (land trespassing) All Emarahs

2 Hajj for Saudi citizens Civil Affairs Department

3 change of employment Civil Affairs Department

4 Death certificate Civil Affairs Department

5 Apply for Saudi Nationality Civil Affairs Department

6 Early retirement pension General Organization for Social Insurance

7 Permanent disability pension General Organization for Social Insurance

8 Social insurance payment for individuals General Organization for Social Insurance

9 Disability pension General Organization for Social Insurance

10 Patent Registration

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

11 Research funding request

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

12

Book publishing permit Ministry of Culture and Information

13 Printed Material Registration Ministry of Culture and Information

14 School transfer service Ministry of Education

15 School admission Ministry of Education

16 School certificate accreditation Ministry of Education

17 Teachers college admission Ministry of Education

19 Hajj and Omra visa Ministry of Foreign Affairs

19 Commercial visit visa Ministry of Foreign Affairs

20 Family visit visa Ministry of Foreign Affairs

21 Health institution admission (nurse school) Ministry of Health

22 Medical profession permit Ministry of Health

23 Scholarship application Ministry of Higher Education

24 Approval for studying abroad on personal expense Ministry of Higher Education

25 Certificate accreditation for higher education Ministry of Higher Education

26 Inheritance quantification request Ministry of Justice

27 Letter of ownership Ministry of Justice

28 Marriage certificate Ministry of Justice

29 Professional evaluation service Ministry of Labour

30 Student summer employment Ministry of Labour

31 Change of sponsor for work permit Ministry of Labour

32 Adoption request Ministry of Social Affairs

33 Assistance and care for orphans and children Ministry of Social Affairs

34 Assistance for elderly Ministry of Social Affairs

35 Assistance for disabled Ministry of Social Affairs

36 Pension for social security qualifiers Ministry of Social Affairs

37 Sewage permit Ministry of Water & Electricity

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38 Water connection service Ministry of Water & Electricity

39 Real-estate government grants to citizens Ministry of Municipality & Rural Affairs

40 Renovation permit Municipalities

41 Demolition permit Municipalities

42 Vacation house permit Municipalities

43 Construction permit Municipalities

44 Road Maintenance Service Municipalities

45 Military college admission National Guard

46 Hajj for non-Saudi citizens Passport Department

47 Visa services (Exit-Re-entry/Final Exit) Passport Department

48 Report a sponsored foreigner missing (makfool) Passport Department

49 Kiyass test (for college admission) Kiyaas

50 Loan request Saudi Credit and Saving Bank

51 Expired Food Complaint Saudi Food and Drugs Agency

52 PO box request Saudi Post

53 Technical College Admission Technical Vocational Training Corp

54 Permit for car repair Traffic Department

55 Permit for car de-assembling Traffic Department

56 Application for car license Traffic Department

57 Vehicle inspection Traffic Department

Exhibit A31: Category 3 G2G services


1 Employee training/scholarship abroad Ministry of Civil Service

2 Government employee going for education abroad Ministry of Civil Service

3 Employee complaint inspection Ministry of Civil Service

4 Budgeting new government job Ministry of Finance

5 Retirement service Pension - Finance

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Appendix B: National Applications

Projects

In this appendix, for each national application project, the following aspects will

be discussed: (i) a description of the project; (ii) a summary of its goals and

benefits; (iii) the timeframe and priority as well as the owner of the project and the

involved entities.

B-1 e-Procurement

Description of the project

The e-procurement project should establish a government-wide electronic platform

for purchasing of goods and services needed in government agencies with the

following characteristics:

Universal usage: In the end state, usage of e-procurement should be

mandatory for all government agencies and all suppliers, given the value of

goods/services purchased is (to be) above a certain threshold (to be

specified in more detail during project implementation).

Overall scope: The platform should be used for all suitable goods and

services needed and will cover a broad range, e.g., stationery, janitor

services, legal services.

Phased implementation: Implementation of the project should be phased

(according to specifications developed in more detail during the project

implementation), e.g.:

Phase 1: In the first phase, there should be two components:

(i) a database of officially registered suppliers/contractors would be

established; (ii) online publication of government tenders and online

provision as well as purchasing of RFPs would be put into place

(auctions should be considered as an alternative method to the standard

bidding process for commodity items).

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Phase 2: In the second phase, there should be three additional

components: (i) online submission of proposals to RFPs would be made

possible; (ii) a catalogue of commodities (goods and services) would be

established and catalogue purchases of these items would be made

possible; (iii) in the same vein, frame contracts would be developed and

purchasing of items under these frame contracts would be provided.

Components (ii) and (iii) should be initially rolled out to ministries with

the biggest expenditure on commodity items/items under frame

contracts.

Phase 3: In third phase, catalogue purchases of commodities and items

under frame contracts could be extended to the remaining ministries and

other public sector agencies.

Cost-effective solution: Depending on the project phases and adoption

pace, the most cost-effective solution should be selected for establishing

the e-procurement platform, i.e., either (i) implementation of a proprietary

platform for Saudi Arabia government, or (ii) using ready-made e-

procurement products/applications from one of the existing platforms.

Goals and benefits of the project

The goal of the e-procurement project is to replace various lengthy and

heterogeneous manual purchasing processes, carried out in individual government

agencies, by a unified and standard government-wide process, leveraging an

electronic platform. By doing this, cost savings on a large scale can be achieved

through aggregation of demand and getting access to best prices.

The benefits of the project are government-wide gains in efficiency and

effectiveness on a broad scale:

Efficiency gains: Regarding efficiency, experience shows that purchasing

cost savings of about 25% overall are possible due to the introduction of e-

procurement. Since e-procurement is applicable to practically all

government purchases, the total savings can be substantial. Moreover,

there is also a significant reduction of time investment for both government

agencies and suppliers/contractors. This is true, in particular, for publishing

government tenders and the RFP processes.

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Effectiveness gains: e-procurement also offers broad improvement

potential since the process of asking for goods and services, receiving

biddings, closing the contract and delivering the goods/services is made

much more specific and reliable. Moreover, improved commercial

relationships with suppliers/contractors may result from this.

As the benchmarking initiative, carried out at the beginning of Saudi Arabia's e-

government program, illustrated, e-procurement is an obvious element of any e-

government initiative: virtually every country has an e-procurement project as part

of its e-government initiative. Given the potential government efficiency and

effectiveness gains mentioned above, this is not surprising.

Timeframe/priority, owner of project and involved entities

As already described at the end of Section III, the e-procurement project – like all

national application projects – is a priority 2 project, i.e., its implementation

should start immediately after the infrastructure projects have been implemented.

As with the other national application projects, the e-procurement project should

be fully implemented before the end of 2010.

The e-procurement project should be owned by the Ministry of Finance. To ensure

successful implementation, two requirements need to be met:

Visible ownership: Since the introduction of e-procurement is a major

initiative affecting practically all of government, it needs strong

organizational support and visible ownership.

Dedicated project management: To oversee the initiative, a dedicated

department within the Ministry of Finance – "Central Procurement" –

should be established. At the beginning, this department will have a project

organization structure, including a full-time project manager; later on, after

successful implementation, it can be transformed into a regular line

organization. During the project phase, the project manager would be

responsible for, e.g., writing and issuing the RFP, selecting and managing

the vendor and day-to-day implementation.

As already described above, the implementation of the e-procurement project will

involve, at first, only a small number of large ministries. Later on, during the final

phase, all ministries and other government agencies should join in and purchase

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their goods and services (above a certain value) through the e-procurement system

administered by the Ministry of Finance.

The following Exhibit B1 gives an overview of the aspects just described.

Exhibit B1

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. E-PROCUREMENT – PROJECT DESCRIPTION OVERVIEW

Source: Yesser

DESCRIPTION GOALS PRIORITY/ TIME FRAME

BENEFITS

• Development of government-wide elec-

tronic platform for procurement of goods

and services needed in gvmt. agencies

• In the end state, usage of platform to be

made mandatory (given purchasing value

is above a certain threshold) for both

– All government agencies

– All suppliers

• Platform to be used for all suitable goods

& services needed (will cover broad range

of services, e.g., from stationery through

janitor services up to legal services)

• Phased implementation of project

– Phase 1: establishment of register for

official suppliers/contractors; online

publication of tenders and online

provision and purchasing of RFPs

– Phase 2: online submittal of proposals

to RFPs; catalogue purchasing of

commodities (goods and services) and

items under frame contracts; only gvmt.

agencies with biggest spendings

– Phase 3: extension of catalogue

purchase to all other gvmt. agencies

• Replacement of lenghty, in-

transparent and heterogen-

eous manual purchasing pro-

cesses by more effective and

efficient standard process,

leveraging electronic platform

• Cost savings through

aggregation of demand and

getting access to best prices

• Priority 2 project

• To be initiated at

beginning of second

year of program

• To be fully implemented

before 2010

• Gains in efficiency/effective-

ness of purchasing process

– Cost savings overall,

reduction of time invest-

ment for gvmt./suppliers,

longterm potential savings

through reduction of staff

– Increased specificity/reliab-

ility of asking/bidding/

closing/delivery process for

goods/services, improved

commercial relationships

with suppliers

OWNER

• Ministry of Finance

INVOLVED ENTITIES

• Short term, only biggest

ministries

• Longterm, all ministries

& other gvmt. agencies

B-2 Government Correspondences


The government correspondences project should establish an electronic platform

to prepare, exchange, store, track and retrieve messages and documents for

government-wide use. The project should consist of two modules:

Electronic messaging system: The electronic messaging system should

develop a way of exchanging messages and documents:

The exchange of messages and documents should be fast, secure and

reliable and should have official status, i.e., messages and documents

sent and received are binding in the same way as paper messages and

documents.

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The messages and documents to be exchanged can be (i) electronic files

of the common formats such as MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel and PDF

(or similar products by other companies) or they can be (ii) electronic

images of documents (scanned documents).

Electronic message/document management system: The electronic

message/document management system should develop a way of storing,

tracking and retrieving messages and documents:

The system should include a storing methodology for sent and received

messages and documents. This methodology will include both a

registration process and a storage process.

The system should also include easy tracking and retrieval processes for

sent and received messages and documents. They should be available

for messages and documents independent of the message exchange

method and the document format used.


The goal of the project is to make information exchange between government

agencies in the form of messages and documents more efficient, effective and

secure through the use of a unified and standard government-wide system,

leveraging an electronic platform:

Efficiency: The preparation and exchange of messages and documents will

be simplified and thus will be much faster.

Effectiveness: All messages and documents will have the same storage

process which will make the tracking and retrieving of messages and

documents much easier and will prevent the loss or incorrect filing of any

messages and documents.

Security: Having all messages and documents on standardized electronic

systems will facilitate correct and safe storage and will prevent the loss of

documents because of neglect, theft, fire, etc.

By achieving these three aspects of the goal the project will realize several

benefits:

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The process of information exchange between government agencies will be

much improved because of the gains in efficiency, effectiveness, and

security.

The decision making process in government agencies:

Will be more effective because decision makers are in a better position

to make informed decisions, having easy access to all relevant data in a

timely manner.

Will speed up because of timelier feedback loops and due to the

provision of a transparent thread of discussion, which is not easily

available without such a system.

Government employees will spend less time preparing, exchanging,

storing, tracking and retrieving documents and will be able to perform

more value-added tasks, which will increase overall productivity. Given

the size of the public sector workforce, this will be a good opportunity to

increase output of the public sector as a whole substantially.

As an example, Malaysia has launched a government correspondences project as

one of seven e-government national projects aimed at improving government

performance. Today there are 22 agencies registered with the project and more

than 530,000 users.

Timeframe/priority, owner of project and entities involved

As already described at the end of Section III, the government correspondences

project – like all national application projects – is a priority 2 project, i.e., its

implementation should start immediately after the infrastructure projects have

been implemented. Then, the necessary technology backbone will be in place on

which the government correspondences project can be run. As with the other

national application projects, the government correspondences project should be

fully implemented before the end of 2010.

The owner of the government correspondences project will be YESSER as a

facilitator. Exhibit B2 gives an overview of the aspects just described.

119


Exhibit B2

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. GOVERNMENT CORRESPONDENCES – PROJECT DESCRIP. OVERVIEW

Source: Yesser


BENEFITS

• Development of a government-

wide electronic platform to

prepare, exchange, store, track

and retrieve messages and

documents

• The project will consist of two

modules

– Electronic messaging system

– Electronic document

management system

• Electronic messaging system:

Development of a fast, secure,

reliable and officially binding way

of exchanging messages and

documents

• Electronic document

management system

– Set up of registration and

storage of sent and received

messages and documents

– Set up of tracking and

retrieving mechanism for sent

and received messages and

documents

• Efficient preparation and ex-

change of messages/documents

• Effective mechanism for tracking

and retrieving messages/

documents

• Secure and reliable system for

storage of messages and

documents


• To be initiated at beginning

of second year of program

• To be fully implemented

before 2010

• Much improved process of

information exchange

• Better decision making

– More solid basis for decisions

through easy availability of all

pertinent information

– Significant speeding up of

decision process by timelier

feedback loops and provision of

transparent thread of

discussion

• Overall, large productivity

improvements by freeing up time

for all gvmt. employees

OWNER

• Yesser as facilitator

INVOLVED ENTITIES

• All gvmt. agencies and their

employees

B-3 Government Databases


The government databases project aims to provide access to data already available

in several databases across government agencies, thus making data stored

available to decision makers and users across government agencies, businesses

and individuals. Examples of such databases are statistics databases (e.g., on jobs

and professions, educational and training activities, financial and investment

activities), publications databases (e.g., papers, articles, research reports, books)

and regulations and rules databases. The data made available can be used for

governmental, commercial, scientific or private purposes. The project will have

two phases:

Phase I – Identification and prioritization of relevant government

databases: The first phase of the project will consist of four parts:

Identifying and cataloguing all existing databases of national interest at

government agencies: This identification process will assess the content

120


and quality of the data, the owner, the users, how frequently the data is

updated, the most recent update, etc.

Defining prioritization criteria: This will include the setting of objective

criteria for prioritizing databases.

Prioritizing the databases: Based on the criteria defined, the various

databases will be prioritized for inclusion in the government databases

and whether they should be made accessible at all, and if so, when they

will be made accessible.

Dividing the databases into two sets: (a) databases to be made available

only to government-internal users; (b) databases to be made available to

government and the public.

Phase II – Enabling access to databases: Once the databases are

prioritized and grouped into the two sets defined above, access to users

will be provided:

Linking to the government intranet: Databases selected for restricted

access, i.e., government-internal usage only, will be linked to the

government intranet to grant access to the government databases to all

government agencies and their employees. Further, user rights may be

applied for some of these databases.

Linking to the e-government portal: Databases to be made available for

the use by the government and the public will be linked to the e-

government portal to make the government databases accessible to the

public as well.


The goal of the project is to make available to government agencies and non-

government users data that is already stored in a variety of isolated databases,

through the use of a unified and standard government-wide system that leverages

an electronic platform, thus raising efficiency and effectiveness:

Efficiency: For efficiency, access to the data will be simpler and faster

because users will be able to access the data electronically.

121


Effectiveness: For effectiveness, users will have access to data they did

not realize existed or were aware of but could not access.

By achieving these goals, the project will have several benefits:

Improvement in the quality of decision-making by both government and

business because of the availability of more data, with simple access and in

real time.

Ability to conduct data-based research in various fields for scientific and

commercial purposes.

Decreased cost of commercial projects due to the higher transparency

achieved through greater data availability.

Support of the transformation into an information society due to higher

transparency and availability of data for a well-informed public.

Timeframe/priority, owner of project and entities involved

As already described at the end of Section III, the government databases project –

like all national application projects – is a priority 2 project, i.e., its

implementation should start immediately after the infrastructure projects have

been implemented. Then the necessary technology backbone will be in place, on

which the government databases project can be run. The first phase of the project,

i.e., identification and prioritization of relevant databases, should be completed in

the first 6 months and the second phase, i.e., enabling access to databases,

completed in the following 36 months. The government databases project should

be facilitated by YESSER.

Exhibit B3 gives an overview of the aspects just described.

122


Exhibit B3

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. GOVERNMENT DATABASES – PROJECT DESCRIP. OVERVIEW

Source: Yesser


BENEFITS

• Enabling electronic access to already

existing data, held by various public

sector institutions, that can be used

for governmental, scientific,

commercial or private purposes

• To consist of two phases

– Identification and prioritization of

relevant databases

– Enabling access to databases

• Phase 1 – Identification/Prioritization

– Identifying and cataloguing existing

databases at gvmt. agencies

– Defining prioritization criteria

– Prioritizing the databases

– Dividing the databases into 2 sets:

gvmt. use only and public use

• Phase 2 – Enabling access

– Linking to gvmt. intranet: enabling

access to identified databases of

set 1 to gvmt. agencies and their

employees only

– Linking to e-government portal:

enabling access to identified

databases of set 2 to everybody

• By providing electronic access

to data already existing at

public sector institutions,

efficiency and effectiveness of

data access will be improved

– Efficiency: Simpler and faster

access to data electronically

– Effectiveness: Access to data

unable to access before the

common databases project


• To be initiated at

beginning of second year

of program

– First 12 months =

Phase 1

– Next 36 months =

Phase 2

• Due to providing electronic

access to data already existing

at public sector institutions,

several benefits will be realised

– Improved quality of decision-

making in gvmt. and

businesses

– Ability to conduct data-based

research

– Decreased cost of

commercial projects

– Well-informed public

OWNER

• Yesser as facilitator

INVOLVED ENTITIES

• Selected gvmt. agencies

with most relevant data-

bases as providers of

data

• All gvmt. agencies and

their employees as users

of data

• Also citizens, expatriates

and businesses as users

of data

123


Appendix C: Infrastructure Projects

C-1 e-Government Network

Project goal and description

The project will establish the connections necessary for provisioning of e-

government services between shared infrastructure, government agencies, external

service providers and users.

The proposed network solution has a hub-and-spoke topology. The network

should have three major domains to connect: (i) government agencies and core

service providers (e.g., payments) (ii) the citizens and businesses as users; and (iii)

the potential future e-government service providers after the pilot phase (Exhibit

C1).

Exhibit C1

NETWORK DOMAIN TOPOLOGY DMZ

Network domains

Source: Yesser

Corporations as users

Corporations

as non-core

services providers

Government agencies

and core service

providers (e.g.,

payments)

Citizens as users

Domain G Domain P

Domain U

Yesser

Public internet

Routing

based on trust level

rules

Low- or high-

service-quality

VPN

High-service-quality VPN

Applications

Government

portal

Authorisa-tionIntranet

124


The proposed network will consist of three network domains:

The government intranet domain (domain G on the exhibit) – will be a

network domain with a high trust level, to which only ministries and

government agencies will have access. The government domain G will be

available through a high-service-quality VPN only and will be a part of a

"demilitarized zone" (DMZ). This means that the domain will not be

accessible through the public Internet. Critical infrastructure elements will

be placed in domain G (e.g., integration bus, payment and authorization

gateways, portals‟ databases, etc).

The public domain (domain U) – will be a network domain with a low trust

level, in which all citizens and businesses can connect with the e-

government services. The portal server or agencies‟ Web servers hosted by

YESSER will be part of public domain U, which will be accessible through

the public Internet. If required, communication to transactional parts of

portals or to websites will be encrypted with a secure socket layer. The

connections between the websites in public domain U and integration bus

in domain G will be routed based on trust rules.

The provider domain (domain P) – will be a network domain with a

medium trust level for all external service providers engaged in executing

parts of the e-government services. This domain is not required in the pilot

phase.

It is up to YESSER and each participating government agency to agree and decide

what physical connections will be used to connect to government domain G,

provided that these connections ensure the service quality (e.g., security,

availability, performance) of the network connections. Different options are

possible (e.g., ATM, Frame Relay, MPLS) and need to be selected based on

reviews of offers submitted by the relevant telecommunication providers.

To ensure security, a dedicated router will be physically placed on the institutional

premises of each government agency using the government network and having

access to domain G.

As part of the interoperability framework, detailed network security policies will

be defined and will be maintained regularly by the Interoperability Committee. In

125


order to achieve the required security level, YESSER will be in charge of the

compliance with the network security policies for the e-government service.

Project owner and implementation approach

YESSER will be responsible for the design, implementation and management of

the government network. Individual ministries and government agencies will be

responsible for procurement of individual connections that link them to the shared

infrastructure.

C-2 Integration Infrastructure


The project goal is to implement shared integration infrastructure to be used by

ministries and government agencies in the delivery of their e-services.Exhibit C2

presents the detailed architecture of the integration infrastructure.

Exhibit C2

DETAILED ARCHITECTURE OF THE E-SERVICES INTEGRATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

User

authentication

User

authorisation

User

administration

User security gateway

Government

agencies‟ back-

end systems

Adapter

Security services

Technical services

Integration bus


User notification

E-forms

engine

SMS

gateway

IVR

gateway

Corporate

systems

gateway

E-payment gateway

Messaging

Government

agencies‟

Web sites

Corporate

systems

MoI MoCI SADADPKI - Certificate

Service Providers

Source: Yesser

Components to be

implemented and

managed centrally

126


Integration bus

The integration bus is a transaction-oriented middleware that enables

communication between participants in the e-government initiative. As a general

architecture rule, a „single-interface‟ model is proposed for implementation, in

which each government agency will only connect once and only to the integration

bus to gain access to all data and services provided by other connected agencies.

Therefore, the integration bus will be the critical central point for connectivity and

exchange of data between government agencies, user interaction channels (Web,

SMS, IVR), corporate systems and shared services providers.

The integration bus should support following functionalities:

Messaging services. The integration bus should enable the reliable

exchange of messages between systems. To do so, it should support

multiple messaging models (e.g., hub and spoke, publish and subscribe),

allow the manipulation of message format and content (specifically, the

translation of messages between different data schemas), provide

synchronous or asynchronous exchange of messages with capability to

store and forward them if the target system is not available and implement

transactional capabilities (e.g., commit, rollback of transactions).

Technical services. The integration bus will maintain a service catalogue

describing the features, types, location and access mechanisms to the

shared services available. It should also implement service level

monitoring for service performance and availability tracking.

Security services will provide for communication between systems,

authentication, authorization and encryption mechanisms based on industry

standards (e.g., Kerberos, WS security).

The system adapters showed on the exhibit – although technically not a part of the

integration bus – will allow different back-end systems to exchange data and

provide services through the integration bus.


The user interaction toolkit will be a shared infrastructure that allows government

agencies to interact with users through electronic channels, e.g., the Internet, SMS,

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IVR, e-mail. It will consist of physical infrastructure (servers, telecommunication

gateways) and software components. The toolkit will allow for a rapid deployment

of new e-services, especially for those government agencies that do not have and

do not plan to implement their own infrastructure.

The following specific components will be available:

E-forms engine – will support rapid standardized development of e-forms

using reusable and pluggable components.

User notification – will allow government agencies to notify users (e.g.,

via e-mail, SMS or message via a website) when a decision or action has

been taken. Users will be able to choose how and through which channel

they prefer to be contacted.

SMS gateway – will allow users to send requests and receive notifications

via SMS.

IVR gateway – will allow users to access e-government services through

an IVR system and touch-phone navigation.

Corporate systems gateway – will allow integration of corporate systems

(of public and private companies) into the e-government infrastructure.

User security gateway

The user security solution will address following aspects of user security:

Identity verification and credentials issuing – initial verification of the

user's identity (ensuring that the user is the individual he/ she claims to be).

User authentication – verification of user credentials and confirmation of

identity when requesting e-government services.

User authorization – granting and verifying user rights to use e-

government service or act on behalf of business entities.

Communication security – confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation of

transactions.

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The proposed solution will consist of business processes and the technical solution

(the user security gateway). In a later phase, it will be enhanced and supported by

a public key infrastructure (PKI).

Key business processes. Among others, two key processes with specific

business owners are proposed for implementation:

Credentials issuing: MoI will be responsible for initial identity

verification and issuing of user credentials for individual users. A single

set of credentials will be used across all e-services. Initially (pilot

services), a user ID and password will be issued by local Civil Affairs

Departments. Later, when PKI is implemented, the user ID and

password will be replaced by digital certificates.

User rights management: Each agency will individually grant, revoke

and check the right of users to access services provided by the agency.

However, management of user rights to act on behalf of businesses will

be centralized and maintained by MoCI.

Technical solution. The user security gateway will provide following

services:

User authentication. Verification of credentials stored in a database

hosted and managed by MoI.

User authorization. Verification of the user's right to act on behalf of a

business, stored in a database managed by MoCI.

User administration. Functions to maintain user accounts (including

closing them, resetting forgotten passwords, etc.).

Access to PKI functions. Access to functions offered by Certification

Service Providers and shared PKI centre.

PKI infrastructure. The PKI initiative aims at setting up the necessary

infrastructure for trusted electronic communication and transactions. The

initiative will define processes, responsibilities and technical infrastructure

and will establish new entities. Once PKI is adopted, it will enhance the

user security solution in the following aspects: (i) authentication through

use of certificates and private keys, (ii) authorization through special

certificates or regular certificates with additional authorization attributes,

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(iii) communication confidentiality and integrity through public/private

key encryption and (iv) non-repudiation through use of digital signatures.

Exhibit C3 provides an overview of the planned PKI organization.

Exhibit C3

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. PKI ORGANIZATION

National Policy Authority (NPA)

Shared PKI service centre (MCIT)

Root CA

CSPs

Operative

certificate

handling

• Sets PKI policies and

standards

• Authorises and

supervises all CSPs

• Verifies identity of

entities and issues

certificates

• Provides root CA

and CSPs with

infrastructure (e.g.,

token personalisation)

Tasks

CSP for

citizens

(MoI)

CSP for

businesses

(MoCI)

CSP for

public

employees

(MoCS)

CSP for

non-human

entities

CA: Certification authority

CSP: Certification service provider

Source: Yesser

Payment gateway

Payment solutions should meet the criterion of broad availability for users both

with and without a bank account. Additionally, payment solutions should be

convenient to the user. For example, payment should be executed in the same

step/session in which a government service is requested.

In the long term, the plan is to provide a multiple payments method, with e.g.,

eBill, payment cards, prepaid accounts, paperless direct debit. In a pilot phase,

eBill, as a minimum, will be implemented as it meets the key criterion of broad

availability. Payment cards will be considered for their high convenience to users.

The payment gateway will connect to SADAD, which will be the primary

payment processing provider. SADAD will provide:

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Required services: payments verification, authorization, collection and

reconciliation

Front-end functionality for secure payment data entry/handling to be used

by government websites.


YESSER will be responsible for the design and implementation of the integration

infrastructure. It will be deployed in two phases (see Exhibit C4).

Phase 1 (Implementation of pilot e-services) is planned to last 18 months and be

focused on the implementation of functionality required for pilot services. The

following components will be implemented:

Integration bus (messaging, technical and security services).

User interaction toolkit (Web interaction components: e-form engine, user

notification, IVR).

User security gateway.

Payments gateway.

Phase 2 (Rollout of Category 2 services) will extend the user interaction toolkit by

adding the availability of new user interaction channels (SMS, corporate systems

interfacing). Phase 2 is planned to take 12-18 months.

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Exhibit C4

INTEGRATION INFRASTRUCTURE IMPLEMENTATION

Phase 1:

Pilot e-services

Phase 2:

E-services rollout

12 months 12 monthsTime

Components

to be

implemented

• Integration bus

– Messaging

– Technical services

– Security services

•User interaction toolkit

– E-forms engine

– IVR gateway

– User notification

•Payment gateway

•User security gateway

•User interaction toolkit

–SMS gateway

–Corporate systems

gateway

Source: Yesser

C-3 e-Government Portal


The project goal is to design and implement a portal giving citizens and corporate

users „one-stop-shop‟ access to G2C and G2B services. The portal will contain

information about the government and about government services and will provide

access to specific e-services.

The following key portal functionalities are planned for implementation:

User interaction: Users will be able to browse and navigate (e.g., through

topic trees or site map) the content of the portal and to search the content

of the portal and other government websites (through indexing the content

of each ministry website).

Content management: The portal will contain the content repository with

a functionality for authoring, versioning and publishing available for

government agencies.

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User management: The portal will provide front-end functionality for end

users, allowing them to register, update their profiles, and personalize the

content.

In order to provide access to e-government services, the portal will play one or

both of the following roles:

‘Link directory’ role – pointing to services accessible on other e-

government websites of individual government agencies.

‘Full portal’ role – where services are actually provided at the portal site.

Government agencies should have flexibility in how they will provide their

services to end users – through the „link directory‟ or through the „full portal‟

approach. Government agencies should be responsible for publishing and for

maintaining content on the portal.


YESSER will be responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of

the portal infrastructure. In the first phase (6 to 8 months), the informational part

of the portal will be implemented only, including the directory and description of

existing services. Later, access will be added to the e-services of government

agencies.

C-4 Intranet Portal


The goal of the project is to develop a government intranet portal as a central place

for public sector employees to:

Access information published internally by government agencies directed

to other government agencies (e.g., government acts, regulations and

announcements).

Access G2G e-government services provided internally between

government agencies (e.g., payment orders) and shared government

national applications (e.g., government correspondences) and government

databases.

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YESSER will be responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of

the Intranet portal infrastructure. Individual government agencies will be

responsible for the management of their Intranet portal content and provision of

specific services to other agencies.

In the first step, the intranet portal will furnish only informational content. As

individual intra-government services are deployed, they will be made available

through the intranet portal.

As same functionalities are required, the intranet portal will be based on the same

architecture and software components as the government portal. Some of

infrastructure components (Web server, application server) may be separated for

security reasons.

The following two projects – e-services shared data and interoperability

framework – are infrastructure-enabling projects and will facilitate and enable

use of shared infrastructure.

C-5 E-Services Shared Data


The project will facilitate sharing of the basic required data between government

agencies, which is needed for the provisioning of the majority of e-services. The

project is critical for the success of e-government initiative as it will e-enable and

simplify government processes.

The goal will be to automate access to the most current and accurate data available

at government agencies (e.g., data on citizens and companies). The project will

detail the data necessary for individual e-services, confirm data providers and

implement interfaces and changes to back-end systems to make required data

available. The project will initially focus on sharing the data necessary for pilot

services implementation – see Exhibit C5 for examples of data that need to be

shared.

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Exhibit C5

E-SERVICES SHARED DATA OBJECTS – EXAMPLE

Data owner Shared data object Example attributes Required in pilot services

• MoI • Citizen • Name

• National ID number

• Date of birth

• Profession

• …

• Expat labour request

• Commercial registration

• University admission

• Expat • Name

• Iquama number

• Nationality

• Profession

• …

• Work permit

• MoCI • Commercial

registry

• Commercial regist-

ration number

• Owner data

– Name

– ID number

• …

• Expat labour request

• Work permit

Source: Yesser

This project will be tightly linked to other infrastructural projects:

E-government network and integration bus implementation will provide

the physical means to exchange data between government agencies.

Interoperability standards will define data dictionaries, data schemas and

technical standards for data exchange.


Individual data owners will be responsible for implementation of interfaces and

making data available through the relevant integration bus (e.g., MoI for citizen

and expat data, MoCI for commercial registry data). The project will be

coordinated by YESSER.

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C-6 Interoperability Framework


Through the definition of common data and technical standards, YEFI (YEsser

Framework for Interoperability) will allow ministries and government agencies to

exchange data and provide services through the shared integration infrastructure.

If adopted, the interoperability framework will decrease the effort, time and cost

required to develop the electronic exchange of data between government agencies.

Shared, broadly adopted standards are key factors for the success of the

„decentralized coordinated‟ approach for the development of government

e-services. YEFI will consist of three types of standards:

Common data standards will define data at business and logical levels,

and data schemas will describe the structures used in communication

between systems.

Metadata standards will define attributes and dictionaries used to

catalogue electronic content.

Technical standards and policies will ensure interoperability at a

technical level, and include connectivity and networking standards, an

integration standard and security standards.


Interoperability framework development will not be run as a one-time effort but as

an ongoing initiative. Working groups will be launched to prepare specifications

for data, metadata and technical standards. Work will be coordinated by YESSER.

The governing interoperability standards will be accepted and enforced by the

Interoperability Committee, which consists of representatives of the key

government agencies.

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