| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Since SMS offers a simple and effective way to communicate, the ROP SMS based eGovernment project was aiming to provide user centric services that benefitted citizens, residents, businesses and ROP employees and enable ROP to communicate and also provide a range of services. The aim was also to provide services that are easy to use, reliable, low cost, time saving and available anytime anywhere thus taking forward the eGovernment initiative and move towards electronic medium to enhance the existing services and open new, simple and effective communication channels of delivery to reach all people in the country.
The ROP SMS services are important to the nation’s development strategy because:
1- ROP SMS solution has dramatically changed the current scenario for both the citizens and residents and the ROP including the other issues like of heavy phone calls enquiring the status of various services or visiting the ROP office thus creating indirect impact on traffic, parking and other related problems apart from the time and energy. 2- Users get instant notification of various services. 3- The user can query anytime Twenty-four by seven according to their convenience. 4- ROP staff does not have to waste their productive time by attending either phone calls or the user who visits the office for this purpose. 5- The entire flow of the system is designed with the ease and it has taken care as an automated interactive SMS solution.
The ROP top management approved the proposal of this solution in 2003 and then they were implement as follows:
On 5 January 2004
(1) Notification Level. (A) Premium Push Services (G2C and G2B) - a subscription-based service for citizens, residents and businesses that provides timely notification alerts.
(2) PULL Services Level (G2C and G2B)no Subscription required - Individuals and commercial organizations can get information relating to their Traffic Violations, Vehicle Registration Expiry, Visa Application Status, etc. by sending appropriate service commands to ROP short code 90085. ROP will be adding more related services in near future.
In 2012
(3) Communication Level - Access to an Intranet Web Application that acts as a front-end to the ROP SMS Gateway is provided to many Directorates, departments, sections etc. within the ROP internal network. It is used throughout the country by various departments to communicate with other ROP staff members. (4) Integration Level - The ROP SMS Gateway is integrated with major ROP projects such as eVisa, ePolice, eCustoms and ROP Call Centers and send out SMS notifications to their users through it.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The ROP SMS System was implemented by the Directorate General of Information Technology in collaborative with other ROP Directorates: Directorate General of Traffic, Directorate General of Passport and Residency, Directorate General of Civil Status, Directorate General of Finance Affairs, Directorate General of Customs, Directorate of Public Relation and Governorate Police HQs.
SMS services are considered as an important factor to improve communication between service providers and users. As part of all Royal Oman Police Directorates commitment to improve their standard of services and provide the best technical concepts providing users with the information they need, notifications and tracking the status’ of services provided to them 24 hours a day. The main objective is the introduction of a new service aiming mainly at a time saving, speedy SMS tracking system for public benefit. ROP employees and higher rank officers are kept up to date with the day-to-day events and happenings within the ROP and also throughout the country.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Infrastructure : Existing ROP data center infrastructure was employed.
Hardware : One dedicated SMS server (windows server 2008)
Software : SMS gateway version3 Third-party control working under 32 bit OS, IIS7, Microsoft Framework 3.5, SQL Server 2008, Oracle Client installation
Human resource : A team of three employees to develop the solution and update it in house.
Network : TCP network, VPN to nawras and omantel to process shortcode, Enable outbond Firewall for sending Bulk SMS to Ooredoo, Account permission to run all windows service application
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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As the Scope is scalable, so many directorates came up with ideas to utilize this essential service. This resulted in a higher demand on this Service with innovative ideas. It applies for public when they demand more innovative services through the SMS, which helps in improving the service and utilizing it more, and increase the amount of people that can benefit from the service
This Service does improve the accountability of public funds by informing citizens and residents about their traffic fines so that they can prepare their money to pay it. It also informs them about the expiry date of their documents to get them prepared to renew it on time. It helps in giving awareness to people about ROP Services, reduce Traffic fines and violations thus reduce the accidents. It also helps avoiding any issues regarding the renewal of Documents and the problems that might be caused if the renewal was delayed or missed.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The system provides users to send in their feedback, suggestions and complaints through the Contact Us page. Additionally, questions can be posted to various ROP Directorates directly through the 'Ask a Question' in the FAQs section. There is also a 24/7 ROP Operations helpline which could also be used to call in with specific queries and requirements.
We have a dedicated team in ROP Public relations whose task is to swiftly respond to user feedback. They also communicate with the relevant directorate and monitor the process of fixing a reported issue and respond back to the users.
The system is reviewed and analyzed on a regular basis by all the concerned parties involved to ensure that the agreed SLAs and KPIs are met.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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During the implementation of SMS services, there were many obstacles, but they were handled professionally.
1- citizens/residents mobile numbers stored in the ROP system not correct or changed or he/she has many mobile numbers. To send the alerts properly all ROP departments required the citizens/residents to provide correct and permanent mobile numbers when they get any ROP services in order to receive the alerts and notification properly.
2- ROP staff do not notify their departments when they changed their mobile numbers. The entire ROP department require their staff to update their details including their mobile numbers every six months. In order to make sure they receive their salary details SMS, Public Relation Department notifications and important news or instructions.
3- ROP different systems and projects not integrated. The ROP SMS Gateway is integrated with major ROP projects such as eVisa, ePolice, eCustoms and ROP Call Centers and send out SMS notifications to their users through it.
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