Dubai eGovernment holds meeting for staff to enhance communication and track Q1 progress

Based on its keenness on streamlining constructive communication between the leadership and employees and familiarize the staff with its quality updates, Dubai eGovernment (DeG) has invited its employees to a meeting with H.E. Ahmed Bin Humaidan, DeG Director General, at its headquarters in HH Dubai Ruler’s Court.

The meeting, which was attended by Wesam Lootah, Assistant Director General, departmental directors and heads of sections, came as part of an initiative by the Excellence and Performance Development Team to enhance communication among the various functional levels, pass experiences among DeG departments and underline the importance of teamwork, thereby encouraging employees to be creative and motivating them to submit suggestions.

The meeting started with a welcome speech by Bin Humaidan in which he gave a synopsis about the DeG’s vision and its compatibility with the UAE Vision 2021 considering that it was one of the initiatives launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, with the aim of enhancing Dubai’s position as a leading global hub in the fields of business, knowledge-based economy and social culture. Bin Humaidan pointed out that since it was launched, the initiative was wanted by Sheikh Mohammed to be a customer-focused one.

Underlining the necessity for such meetings to be held on a regular basis, Bin Humaidan said: “By this activity which will be held on a quarterly basis, we aim at raising the level of communication and contribution and allowing each departmental director at DeG to convey a direct and explicit image about the progress achieved during each quarter of the year. This is our first workshop, which is intended to be rendered a dialogue-based forum that poses questions, demonstrates concerns and opens a channel for a direct constructive dialogue among the various administrative levels.

First, Dr. Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Consultant at DeG, talked briefly about the DeG’s strategy 2011-2015, which comprises eGovernment, eBusiness sector and eCommunity for smooth access to the knowledge-based community and connected government.

He explained that apart from its evaluation of the eServices provided by government entities, the Strategy and Governance Department established performance standards and quality and policy criteria with the aim of rendering Dubai a city of integrated, collaborative and innovative knowledge that focuses on meeting customers’ needs for creative services through innovative channels anytime and anywhere.

Then Saeed Ahli, Director of Corporate Support Services Department, which has two sections: Human Resources Section and Finance Affairs Section, talked about the Department’s tasks and the importance of human resources, particularly for making achievements. He also demonstrated the department’s achievements in the first quarter of this year in terms of electronic applications, particularly its implementation of the fixed assets tracking system of the government resources planning (GRP) systems as well as its implementation of eSuggest system, e-job system and time and attendance system. Ahli pointed out that the department was engaged in several activities as part of its social responsibility towards its employees. He also talked about the department’s plans and projects for the remaining period of 2012.

Sumaia Hammad, Director of Communication & Business Development Department, reviewed the tasks of her department and summarized its achievements under five major categories: ePayment services & capabilities enhancement, government integration & joining up, easing access to public information & government services, service delivery & account management and eHosting & Intranet improvement. Hammad also reviewed the recent improvements on the official portal of Dubai Government, dubai.ae, together with some statistics made in the first quarter and the department’s projects and plans for the remaining period of 2012.

Huda Al Hashimi, Director of Government Resources Planning Department and Acting Director of Systems Development Department, stated that her department’s achievements are embodied in a major upgrade of the GRP systems from the current version to the R12 version to keep pace with Oracle’s developments. Other achievements included integration with Tejari, asset tracking rollouts and self service enhancements for Dubai government employees. Jameel Wasfat Ahmed, eSolutions Development Section Manager, made a presentation in which he gave more details about the section’s achievements and future projects.

Matar Al Humairi, Director of Infrastructure Management Department, said 49 government entities were linked with Dubai eGovernment’s electronic infrastructure system to provide the highest security standards for the connected government, adding that the department’s plan for 2012 includes continuing to provide webhosting services, enabling mobile Lync and enabling “du” in GRP Tasaheel.

The meeting concluded with a presentation by Mira Sultan, Information Security Section Manager, in which she talked about the section’s achievements in the first quarter as embodied in information security policies, information security system for Dubai Government and meeting the qualification requirements for ISO 27001 across all departments. She ended her presentation by talking about the section’s projects and plans for this year.

At the end of the meeting, a number of questions were posed to the directors of departments for clarification of some points in the projects of the second quarter of this year. Other questions were posed with respect to ensuring more communication between the higher management and staff.