H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, today (October 18, 2009) witnessed the launch of the newly restructured official web portal of Dubai Government, during “GITEX Technology Week 2009”, which he inaugurated. During the event, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed was also briefed on Dubai eGovernment’s efforts to adopt and implement the best international practices in the development of the new web portal which provides a wide range of eServices to ease the lives of people. Dubai eGovernment has enhanced its web portal www.dubai.ae as part of a continuing effort to reinforce its status as a global pioneer in eGovernment. The enhancement also seeks to consolidate the information platform and build a strong, unified base to address the needs of the public through more than 2,000 electronic services provided by various government departments in the emirate.
The restructuring process of the portal involved adopting a new approach called “life-events” where information and services are packaged based on various life stages of individuals, businesses and visitors. This system allows portal users to have direct access to services that they require without having to browse through several web pages. In this regard, Dubai eGovernment has collaborated with government departments and private sector organisations to create awareness about the latest innovations in e-governance and the efficiency of the eServices being offered by Dubai eGovernment, where eServices provided by more than one government department are integrated into customer focused life events, bringing Dubai eGovernment closer to a virtual government.
Ahmed Bin Humaidan, Director General of Dubai eGovernment, said: “The process of restructuring our portal around life events makes Dubai one of the first eGovernments, aiming to meet customers’ increasing requirements particularly those related to government transactions and procedures. All life events cater for citizens, residents, businesses and visitors, and include important stages in their lives. The portal also offers specialized topics, for a browsing by topic approach.
“In order to ensure the success and generate mass support for this new approach, we have been collaborating with various service providers from both the government and private sectors. The first phase of this initiative will target services in the government sector and some private sector services."
While developing this portal, Dubai eGovernment has adopted the highest government website standards to ensure that the users can access eServices and information through multiple approaches, the latest being through life events. Dubai eGovernment recently conducted an interactive workshop for various government departments and agencies in Dubai to provide an overview of the new approach. This workshop was conducted in line with Dubai eGovernment’s commitment to establish a unified platform that will contribute to effective cooperation and ensure sustainable development in Dubai. Dubai eGovernment also aims to ease the lives of visitors, residents and businesses by offering a range of electronic services under the four categories.
The first stage of developing the portal included the adoption of the ‘Life-Event’ approach to provide eServices to the public, following a comprehensive study of all eServices, conducted by the Strategic Planning Division in Dubai eGovernment, after which the life events concept was created. The second phase of developing the portal, scheduled to start next month, targets expanding life events services to include the private sector services in accordance with criteria created by Dubai eGovernment as well as further enhancement of existing topics and the use of web 2.0 tools for greater interaction with its customers.