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Kuwait Government online Portal (KGO)
Central Agency for Information Technology

A. Problem Analysis

 1. What was the problem before the implementation of the initiative?
1)The need for accessing government information and services after the official working hours. 2) Administrative complexities that lead to prolong procedures and documentary cycle 3) Waiting in long queues to complete government transactions, which wasted people's time. 4) The disabled and the elderly are facing difficulties in mobility between different government entities 5) The need for a transparent way to access governmental information and services regardless of the users gender, social class, or other demographic factors. 6) The need to enhance the performance and efficiency of governmental agencies in delivering services (G2C) 7) The need to increase interactivity among Gove mental agencies (G2G) 8) The need to increase interactivity between governmental the private sector (G2B) 9) The need to increase governmental agencies productivity

B. Strategic Approach

 2. What was the solution?
Main objectives: 1) The project aims at establishing a single interface for citizens, residents, visitors, and the private sector to access governmental information and services 24/7 using multiple access channels. 2) Offering the government e-services through the a unified portal to make these services more efficient, effective, and accessible to everyone. 3) Unifying and simplifying the procedures of using the government e-services, ensuring that they reach all segments of the society including persons with disabilities and special needs. 4) Assisting government bodies in developing their e-government projects by adopting the best practices and standards needed for achieving the integration and Interoperability among the I.T. systems of those governmental agencies, in addition to enhancing reliability, information security, and future expansion. 5) Governmental process re-engineering 6) Saving time and efforts on end uses to access governmental information and services. 6) Eliminating beurucracy 7) Increasing the country ability to compete in the global knowledgebase economy. Target audiences are: •All individuals in the State of Kuwait, whether they are citizens, residents, or visitors. •The business sector. •Government bodies and personnel. •Anyone from any country searching for information about the State of Kuwait in any field
 3. How did the initiative solve the problem and improve people’s lives?
1- The design of the portal is compliant with the international standards followed in field of usability, performance, and security. 2- The usability standards guarantee the accessibility of the portal by all the users including users with special needs. 4- The portal uses an industry standard Informational Architecture which allows the user to reach the required information within 3 steps or less. 5- The portal has a mobile application for iOS and Android platforms which increase the base of its users.

C. Execution and Implementation

 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
Please vie the attached Implementation Plans for Phase I and Phase II of implementing the portal.
 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
1) A steering Committee consisting of representatives from several government agencies such as: a. Central Agency for Information Technology. b. Kuwait Institution for science researches c. Kuwait University d. Ministry of Interior e. Civil Service Commission 2) Private sector contribute in designing and implementing 3) Citizens contribute in user interface design and in performing usability test 5) NGOs contributed through offering their content and services
 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative reached 3 Million and 800 U.S Dollars The project was funded by the Central Agency for Information technology, which is the governmental agency responsible for implementing E-Government in Kuwait.
 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
1. Facilitating the process of accessing governmental information and services (24/7) 2. Saving time and efforts. 3. Eliminating bureaucracy and corruption. 4. Lowering the cost of delivering governmental services. 5. Building trust in using IT to achieve sustained development and spreading Digital Literacy in the society
 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
To measure the progress in achieving the strategic goals of implementing the portal, key performance indicators (KPIs) are being used by the Central Agency for Information Technology. These indicators are: 1- Kuwait rank in the United Nations E-Government Readiness Index which ranks countries according to their e-readiness to apply e-government framework. 2- Lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) regarding the delivery of e-services. 3- The number of e-services and its maturity level according to the Stages of E-government Evolution stated by the United Nations. 4- Citizens and residents feedback regarding the delivered e-services obtained from polls and periodic market research questionnaires. 5- Technical indicators obtained from Web Analytics tools , like Google Analytics, which is used by CAIT to analyze the visitors and content of Kuwait Government Portal. 6- The feedback received from portal users through the portal’s Customer Service Unit collected through the Customer’s Service hot line and web form 7- The feedback received from the portal’s users through the interaction with then on thr portals account on social media (like Twitter and Facebook). .
 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
(1) Lack of collaboration among governmental agencies: Overcome by continuous political support from the ministers, undersecretaries, and Council of Ministers. (2) Resistance to change: Overcome by spreading Digital Literacy in the society through the National IT Awareness Program (3) Need for accessing IT systems in the governmental agencies to achieve e-service integration: a- Overcome by the publishing a Standards and Specifications document which was sent to the governmental agencies to guide them regarding how to apply international standards to create their e-services in a way that can integrate with the portal. b- Providing Technical Guidance/Support for agencies that suffer from shortage of dedicated resources c- Create Integration Programs for Composite Services – Centralized Orchestration d- Create eGovernment Interoperability Framework and Enterprise e-Service Bus (4) Citizen acceptance of the portal design and navigation: Conducted Usability Tests to precipitate observational feedback from real users performing real tasks.

D. Impact and Sustainability

 10. What were the key benefits resulting from this initiative?
1) The increase in the number of ePayment transactions which shows the level of utilizing E-Payment services offered through the portal. 2) The increase in number of visitors of the portal and its mobile application. 3) The mobile application of the portal is now included in the Top 10 list of App store applications in Business category and also in the Top 10 list of Google Play store applications in Business category. The impact was measured using Web Analytics and Mobile App Analytics tools like Google Analytics. It is also measured by the statistics of the governmental e-payment gateway regarding the number of transactions and payments.
 11. Did the initiative improve integrity and/or accountability in public service? (If applicable)
Yes the initiative is sustainable through giving it the priority by the government as part of the National Development Plan. This gives the project the political power and financial sustainability. The project is also supervised by the Council of Ministers who is working with the governmental agencies to motivate them to participate in the project. The project is also sustained socially and culture wise by the National I.T. Awareness project which is one of the projects of the Central Agency for Information Technology. The project aims at raising public awareness in using the portal and its e-services to enhance their life through targeted conventional and electronic advertisements. The project is transferrable and replicable since it adopts industry standards followed in portal designs mainly Connected Government Framework, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) , and Web Services Standards (WS and XML).
 12. Were special measures put in place to ensure that the initiative benefits women and girls and improves the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable? (If applicable)
The initiative proved that the public is in need for a unified interface that allows him/her to access governmental information and e-services in a fast, efficient, and transparent way. The public is interested in using electronic tools to enhance the way of utilizing their governmental services in a way which saves time and effort. All this has been achieved through the portal. With the media awareness efforts which have been conducted through the National I.T. Awareness Program, that included conventional and electronic advertisement campaigns, the public accepted the portal as an essential component of their lifestyle and used it to enquire about their governmental services and also to pay governmental fees. This helped in eliminating the resistance to change we faced at the beginning of implementing the project. The following are some recommendations to increase the project efficiency: • Apply Change Management in the governmental agencies. • Need for governmental process reengineering and simplification. • Need for changing the service delivery culture to become “Provider-to-Customer” instead of “Agency-to-Citizen”. • Increasing interaction with the governmental media channels.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Central Agency for Information Technology
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Ettihad Al-Bahar
Title:   Dr.  
Telephone/ Fax:   22413940/22442083
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   ealbahar@cait.gov.kw  
Address:   Sharq Ahmad Aljaber St
Postal Code:   13009
City:   Kuwait
State/Province:   Kuwait
Country:  

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