United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Since 2002, the Singapore Government has taken bold steps to offer its public services online. In a bid to encourage the public to embrace online services, about 1,600 government services have since been made available online.

Online services have allowed citizens and businesses in Singapore to access government services without having to visit the respective government agencies. However, there are still citizens who are not able to enjoy the benefits of online services, either due to a lack of Internet literacy, low English literacy (the official working language in Singapore and used widely in government websites) or simply a preference for face-to-face assistance.

Indeed, according to the “2006 Annual Survey on Infocomm Usage in Households and By Individuals” conducted by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), 29% of households do not have Internet access at home. If nothing was done to address this, government agencies would have to continue staffing service counters and the maximum potential of online service delivery would never be realised. The government thus focused on assisting this segment of the population who do not have easy Internet access or needed help with accessing online services. To free them of the need to make trips down to government agencies, the CitizenConnect Programme was conceptualised.

Citizens can now seek personalised assistance at any of the 28 CitizenConnect Centres, 25 of which operate beyond regular working hours. These Centres, each equipped with two personal computers with Internet access and online payment peripherals such as cashcard readers, are strategically located and are readily accessible throughout Singapore, near to where citizens live or work. If a citizen encounters difficulties, officers are available to offer help and guide him through the navigation so that he would be better able to do so on his own in future. At the same time, the customer service officers will help the citizens seek the necessary coordinated responses from multiple agencies pertaining to their online transactions, thereby assisting citizens with the complexity involved in having to interact with different agencies all at once.

As the Programme requires officers who are capable of serving customers and are familiar with the online services they offer, stringent selection criteria are used. The officers must possess positive attitude towards serving customers, be IT savvy and capable of understanding the customers’ needs and perspectives, appreciate their customers’ difficulties and tactfully assist them, speak their language, and be familiar with the myriad of government online services across agencies.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The goals of the CitizenConnect Programme are part of the Government’s larger efforts to bring convenience and electronic public services closer to non-Internet savvy citizens so as to “increase the reach and richness of electronic services”. The CitizenConnect Programme was first launched in 2005 with only five Centres, with the purpose of evaluating the need for such centres. During the one-year pilot, the government received strong positive feedback on the usefulness of the Centres. This led to the addition of another 22 Centres in end 2006, so as to extend the reach of government online services to even more citizens. From Nov 2006 till Oct 2007, more than 100,000 citizens have used the Centres’ facilities. This number is increasing rapidly as more citizens discover the convenience that the Centres bring. Among those polled in a survey, a. 8 out of 10 were satisfied with the facilities provided at the CitizenConnect Centres; b. More than 8 out of 10 were satisfied with the help provided at the CitizenConnect Centres; and c. 8 out of 10 will use the Internet to transact with the government in the future after the positive experience at the CitizenConnect Centres. An example of a good experience was recounted by Mr Chong, a resident who stayed near the CitizenConnect Centre at Serangoon Community Club. He had sought help from Ms Angie Lim, the CitizenConnect officer there, who assisted him in processing a business registration renewal online. However, Mr Chong could not recall his business registration number. Ms Lim then swiftly conducted a search on the ACRA website to locate the business registration number. Eventually, Mr Chong made the online payment through his credit card for the online renewal and completed the business registration renewal smoothly. Ultimately, these good experiences by our citizens at the CitizenConnect Centres will translate to fewer counter or manual transactions at the agencies. One good example is the yearly nation-wide filing of personal income tax exercise conducted in March/April 07, where 79% of the income tax filing was done via the electronic means. This is up by 6% compared to the same period last year. The CitizenConnect Programme has contributed to this increase, especially for the segment of population that would otherwise not be able or were not confident about filing their income tax online. Most importantly, CitizenConnect brought about a change in the service mindset and revolutionized the options available to the Singapore Government in breaking down the language and education barriers traditionally associated with online services. With the provision of Internet access and helper service, rendered at no cost to our citizens at a convenient location near them, every citizen, especially those who are less privileged, non-Internet savvy or non-English speaking, can now reap the benefits of government online services.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
In early 2005, under the then e-Government Action Plan II, a holistic study led by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) was conducted to examine how the different segments of citizens can be effectively reached with online services from a whole-of-government perspective. From this study, a segment of users who needed help in using government online services was identified. This then led to a proposal being submitted on 16 Jun 2005 which recommended the establishment of the CitizenConnect Centres in Community Clubs/Centres (CCs). These community clubs are managed by the People’s Association (PA) for the purpose of building social spirit and nurturing community bonding among residents through the provision of recreational facilities, activities and courses. For the convenience of the residents, CCs are located in the vicinity of where residents live, and there is a nationwide network of such clubs. By locating the CitizenConnect Centres within community clubs, the Centres are thus strategically placed in heartland locations where our citizens are. As the CitizenConnect Programme is part of larger efforts to bring the convenience of using online services to the less Internet-savvy citizens, partnership between various government agencies was essential to ensure its successful implementation and operation. Agencies include the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), People’s Association (PA) and its grassroots organizations, the Central Provident Fund Board (CPF) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). The roles of the various government agencies involved are described below: - MOF leads the initiative as well as provides the funding; - IDA manages the project and supports the entire implementation and operations; - PA manages the 25 CitizenConnect Centres in the Community Clubs/Centres (CCs), as MOF’s partner in setting up the Centres; and - In support of the objectives of the CitizenConnect Programme, CPF and IRAS subsequently offered their counter premises for the implementation of CitizenConnect Centres. These sites are ideal due to the high volume of public visitors who are also likely to use government services other than those offered by IRAS and CPF. They also provided their own staff as customer service officers for these Centres. As government agencies view the CitizenConnect customer service officers very much like their own customer service officers who will help them to serve their customers, they are thus strongly committed to providing dedicated support to these customer service officers and making the CitizenConnect Programme a success. At the same time, most of these agencies are also actively promoting such helper services to their own customers so as to make going online, be it from home, in the office or at CitizenConnect Centres, a preferred choice.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The goals of the CitizenConnect Programme are part of the Government’s larger efforts to bring convenience and electronic public services closer to non-Internet savvy citizens so as to “increase the reach and richness of electronic services”. Instead of a big bang approach, the Ministry of Finance adopted the strategy to progressively set up the first five Centres in community clubs for a one year pilot, to asses the viability for more centres to be set up. In the one-year pilot period, the government received strong positive feedback on the usefulness of the Centres, which led to 22 other Centres being added in Nov 2006, extending the reach of government online services to more customers. Yearly reviews will be conducted on whether the intended objectives are met and whether the current network of Centres is adequate to meet the needs of our citizens. The operations will be continually fine-tuned to ensure that the Centres remain relevant to our citizens. More CitizenConnect Centres will also be set up if there is a demand.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The proposal for the implementation of the CitizenConnect Programme was first submitted on 16 Jun 2005, which recommended the establishment of CitizenConnect Centres in five community clubs as a one-year pilot project to assess the viability for more Centres to be set up. The first five Centres in community clubs were progressively set up and opened between Oct 2005 and Jan 2006. In the one-year pilot period, the government received strong positive feedback on the usefulness of the Centres. This led to 22 other Centres being added in November 06, extending the reach of government online services to more customers. These Centres include the 20 at additional People’s Association Community Clubs/Centres (CCs), one at CPF’s Jurong Service Centre and another at IRAS’s premises in Revenue House. All 27 Centres were fully operational by Nov 2006. The 28th Centre at the Bukit Batok Civil Service Club was set up in May 2007.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The major challenge is in ensuring that our CitizenConnect customer service officers are well trained on all government online services and are equipped with the vital soft skills on handling customers so that they are effective in assisting our citizens. To overcome this challenge: a. Customer service officers attend regular training sessions on the use of popular online services and how to find more information about these online services from the websites; b. Attachments to government agencies are conducted for officers to learn first-hand about the agencies' online services and policies, and also about how agencies' staff answer public queries; and c. Officers are sent for customer service training to learn how to better serve and delight the customers. At the same time, the officers are assured of dedicated support provided by the respective government agencies which are committed to making the CitizenConnect Programme a success, should they encounter any issues or queries that they cannot address. Through the training by and support of the various government agencies, a dependable and dedicated pool of customer service officers is built.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The CitizenConnect Programme strives to leverage the existing locations, infrastructure setup (PCs, internet access, and printers) and staff wherever possible to minimize the one-time investment quantum and recurrent costs. As such, the setting up and operational costs of the CitizenConnect Centres are borne as a joint development between various government agencies. To minimize the cost of rental of venue, the CitizenConnect Programme is run in collaboration with the People’s Association (PA). For the convenience of the residents, the Centres were mainly set up in Community Clubs/Centres (CCs) which are managed by the People’s Association (PA). These CCs are located in the vicinity of where residents live, and there is a nationwide network of such clubs. By locating the CitizenConnect Centres within community clubs, the Centres are thus strategically placed in heartland locations where our citizens are, while the cost of rental is minimal. Such collaboration is win-win as PA can also offer more services to the residents. Ministry of Finance co-funded 50% of the salary paid to staff manning the CitizenConnect Centres in the CCs. PA supplemented efforts on this end with support from its own existing staff so as to provide a full time service to the public. CPF and IRAS also provided their own staff as customer service officers in the CitizenConnect Centres at their respective locations. The start up costs to establish the network of 28 Centres was about S$400,000. The recurrent expenditure is expected to be about S$1.3 million for 3 years. Beyond this initial stage, the source for funding the recurrent expenditure could be spread out among all the government agencies, which would have benefited from a decreased need and effort to support manual transactions as a result of the strong public appeal and higher usage of the CitizenConnect Centres.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
CitizenConnect Programme is implemented to bridge the digital divide and serve a social need. To encourage the group of citizens we are targeting to use government e-services, such services have to be offered to them at no cost. Thereby, the operation model for the CitizenConnect Programme is to minimize cost. With more Centres setup, the need for counter services at the various government agencies will also be reduced. This would reduce the cost of operating and staffing these counters.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Being a programme that serves a social need to bridge the digital divide, a strong champion, in terms of direction and financial, is important to the success of the Programme. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) took the lead in this Programme and garner strong support from strategic partners, such as the People’s Association (PA) and its grassroots organisations, Central Provident Fund Board and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, putting the plans into action. Having the right partners to operate the Centres are crucial. The People’s Association, with a nationwide network of Community Clubs located in the vicinity of where residents live and a mission of building social spirit and nurturing community bonding among residents through the provision of recreational facilities, activities and courses at these clubs, is an ideal partner for the Programme. As almost all citizens have at least one transaction with either CPFB or IRAS annually, the two agencies and their high traffic premises are also strategic in reaching out to the citizens. The support and training that these partnering agencies gave to the CitizenConnect customer service officers was a critical point in making the Programme a success. Another key element to the success of the Programme is investing in the right people – specifically, the high quality of the CitizenConnect customer service officers, as they play a significant role in the total experience of the services provided at the Centres. To ensure that the officers are capable of serving customers and are familiar with the online services they offer, stringent selection criteria are used. The officers must possess positive attitude towards serving customers, be IT savvy and capable of understanding the customers’ needs and perspectives, appreciate their customers’ difficulties and tactfully assist them, speak their language, and be familiar with the myriad of government online services across agencies. In addition, the officers are trained on all government online services and equipped with the vital soft skills on handling customers so that they are effective in assisting our citizens.


Institution Name:		Ministry of Finance
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Chew Ping Phoon
Title:		Director, Managing for Excellence Directorate
Telephone/ Fax:		(65) 63328602
Institution's / Project's Website:		(65) 63374134
E-mail:		phoon_chew_ping@mof.gov.sg
Address:		The Treasury, 100 High Street, #06-03
Postal Code:		179434
City:		Singapore
State/Province:
Country:		Singapore

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information