Muscat Municipality first govt body in ME to implement e-services successfully 

(MENAFN - Times of Oman) Muscat Municipality has succeeded in implementing the e-services management system (CRM), thus becoming the first government service authority in the Middle East to implement this system, Oracle has reported on its website.

The announcement came following the launching of the system by Muscat Municipality during its participation in the government e-service exhibition at Comex 2008.

Khaled Dawood Al Zidjali, DG of the Information System at Muscat Municipality, while commenting on the system, said: "The implementation of this system is a part of the government's efforts in improving its service standards and providing seamless service to the applicants and beneficiaries without any complication, while ensuring accuracy, speed and ease of retrieval."

"We are proud of this e-step. It is a great achievement for all the systems and programmes serving the municipality. It is a significant addition to the municipality's efforts to achieve the digital environment to serve the beneficiaries and fulfil various sectors requirements," he added.

Oracle reported on its website that the successful implementation of the system, consisting of package of services, including building permits, leases, municipality licences, health and technical inspection, parking permits and meter-parking and violations, will reduce the time required to complete certain services by 60 per cent in addition to other features, including:

l Overview through connecting to the comprehensive service system

l Limit repetition and ensure correct and accurate data

l Reduce by 60 per cent the time required for searching and entering the violations into the paid parking and the health inspection system thanks to the possibility of communicating the data and inspection results from the field, using the palm devices and the 3G/EDGE telecommunication technology

l Develop the service administration system. The system regulates the internal process within the municipality. Accordingly, the staff are able to focus on serving their customers, instead of focusing on the internal process thus improving the quality of service

l Limit manual errors. Most applications are automatically performed. Also, all the calculations for fees, fines, etc. are automatically calculated. Manual receipts have been replaced with E-receipts

l Sixty per cent reduction of the time required for collection thanks to the full connectivity of the revenue system with other services, eliminating the need to re-enter data

Salem Al Kalbani, head of projects and in-charge of the system, said: "This system features several technologies, including the handheld devices used for health inspection and parking violations.

The system also enables the health inspectors to follow up on the field visits and update their results on site, using the 3G/EDGE technology through their handheld devices. They can also print the violations and inspection results using the Bluetooth printers. Soon SMS will be activated, enabling the customers to inquire about their transactions by Short Message System, and an automatic answering system to handle inquiries."

By successfully implementing this comprehensive system to serve its customers, Muscat Municipality has fulfilled its plans aimed at using modern technology to improve the quality of its services to all the residents within the Governorate of Muscat.

The use of best practice in e-management ensures comprehensive services by the various units entrusted to serve various beneficiaries, and the speed required to fulfil the needs of various commercial, social and public health sectors.