UAE, 31 October, 2016 – A government delegation from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Civil Service in Saudi Arabia recently visited the office of Smart Dubai Government Establishment (SDG), the Smart Dubai Office’s technical arm that supervises Dubai’s smart transformation efforts. The visiting delegates aimed to learn more about SDG’s best practices, particularly in the area of shared services being managed by the Government Information Resources Planning Systems (GRP) Department.

The delegation was headed by Motref Al Sahli, Director of the Software Engineering Department of the e-Government Program (Yesser), who leads Saudi Arabia’s shared government services project. A group of renowned Oracle consultants and representatives also joined the delegates. 

Huda Al Hashimi, Director of the GRP Department, welcomed the visitors to the SDG office. Al Hashimi was happy that Dubai is now becoming a benchmark for other countries to follow especially in terms of creating and applying best practices in the government sector. Presently, SDG provides more than 60 shared smart government services to nearly 55 GRP-using government entities, she said. 

The GRP Department made a presentation to share with Saudi delegates an array of SDG’s advanced shared services. These include the government resources planning systems developed to centralize and support all public back-office operations such as financial, logistics, human resources, payroll, recruitment, and asset management. 

The visitors also learned about some of SDG’s innovative smart applications, including the mJobs app which helps jobseekers look for vacancies in government entities and other participating companies. Jobseekers need only to register for free to search and apply for a job. Via the app, they can submit their resumes to more than 24 participating Dubai government bodies. 

The Saudi officials were also briefed about the Smart Employee App, which is designed especially for Dubai government employees. By using the app, the employees can easily submit leave forms; make return-from-leave requests and inquiries on leave balances and previous leave requests; and check their attendance, payroll, and certificate records, to name a few. The app saves time and effort for both employees and their supervisors.

The Tasaheel interactive service was also highlighted during the visit. The service enables Dubai government employees to communicate electronically round-the-clock and inquire about their GRP-related information. It is also equipped with self-service features for employees who do not use electronic or smart devices.

Underscoring the importance of SDG’s smart services, CEO H.E. Wesam Al Abbas Lootah said: 'We strive to provide exceptional government services to bring happiness to our customers, who are our top priority. For this purpose, we are currently working on providing shared smart services in order to save time and effort and ensure customer satisfaction and happiness.”

The Saudi delegates, on the other hand, said it was a successful visit given that they learned about Dubai Government’s new and advanced smart methods developed to ensure its people’s happiness. They hoped that the initiatives being undertaken by Dubai would be adopted by other Arab cities, noting that the emirate is eager to share its smart experiences with its neighboring countries.