Smart Dubai Government showcases latest smart services at DGAE 2016

Smart Dubai Government Establishment (SDG) is participating in the 4th edition of Dubai International Government Achievements Exhibition, which is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, between April 11 and 13, 2016 at Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre under the banner "Local Government, Global Achievements".

SDG is participating with an array of its smart services and apps and innovative initiatives, which will be highlighted during the activities of the exhibition. These include:

Dubai Now app – the award winning all in one government app

The Dubai Now app, which won the best m-government service award in the one stop app category at the national level at the World Government Summit 2016, combines most used government services in one app.

Launched by SDG in October 2015, you can use the app for multiple government services. These include paying all kinds of utility bills, traffic fines, topping up Salik and Nol and donating to Dubai Cares and Al Jalila Foundation, among other smart services.

The app was designed by extensive customer engagement through DSG’s Customer Experience Lab, where many segments of customers were involved in selecting and classifying the more than 50 smart services, and then categorized by the customers into 11 convenient categories: payments and bills; public transport; security and justice; health; driving; visas; educational services; Islamic services; business; housing; and public services.

The Dubai Now app is a practical example of a connected, integrated and collaborative government. For example, a customer who wants his/her children vaccinated can browse the health category of DHA and book the appointment with the pediatrician easily. In the same area without leaving the service, the customer can find connected services such as traffic maps, Salik and Nol and the best route to take, including how to avoid current accidents, as indicated by Dubai Police.

 MyID service

The MyID service, launched by Smart Dubai Government Establishment (SDG) in collaboration with the Emirates Identity Authority, is evidence of the commitment of SDG as the technology arm of Smart Dubai to provide the shared infrastructure and services to the government entities to enable them to ensure successful access by the public to their services seamlessly round the clock wherever they are, thereby effectively contributing to achieving the objective for Dubai to become the smartest city in the world.

Registering in MyID service enables you automatically to access more than 630 services provided by 14 Dubai government entities and to use them through one username and password, eliminating the need to register with each government entity separately and have multiple personal identification accounts. You can register with the service through the electronic kiosks all over Dubai, in the customer halls of government entities and through the link https://myid.dubai.gov.ae. The service also enables those who have card readers to complete registration from his house or office without the need to register through kiosks.

 Customer Experience Lab

The CX lab concept was brainstormed by DSG’s dedicated teams with the aim of involving the public in developing government services in line with the world’s best practices and standards in fulfilment of the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make the emirate a destination for innovation and creativity, under an efficient, leading and distinguished government.

Designing smart government apps and services from the perspective of customers will remove the barriers between government entities and customers with respect to providing services to them in such a close and easy to use manner with the aim of increasing their adoption of these apps and services and giving them more of the sought-after happiness.

The CX Lab is now part of the process through which the government services offered to society are developed based on a realistic experience for customers in line with the world's best practices and standards with the aim of promoting the corporate vision of building a distinctive city with a sustainable well-being towards fulfilling the Dubai Government Vision 2021 for easing the lives of people and businesses interacting with the government.

The CX Lab offers a realistic opportunity for customers to design government services in line with their desires and needs, benefiting from their practical experiences and viewpoints about developing smart services and apps. It also allows those with disabilities to take part in various smart service demonstrations to check if these services respond to their physical and visual needs. Those with disabilities can test various electronic kiosks innovated specially for making them happy so that these tests can be used in re-designing these kiosks to meet their physical needs. Other tests are carried out for customers with visual disabilities to test colour contrasts to make readability better.

The lab also tracks eye movements and gestures while customers test and use services and apps and the results are then used to re-design these services and apps to be more comfortable when used.

Happiness Meter Initiative

As the technology arm of the Smart Dubai initiative, SDG has developed an interactive, easy-to-use smart device connected with a central network to measure happiness in implementation of its vision of making Dubai the happiest city on earth through the provision of world-class smart infrastructures and services.

The Happiness Meter is aimed at analyzing the services provided by Dubai Government by monitoring Dubai inhabitants' experience with these services. The experience is then analyzed, improved and developed, thereby consolidating the concept of transparency. The dashboard meter, on the other hand, enables decision-makers to view the Happiness Meter results in implementation of the leadership's directives "to make our people happy without delay.”

The Happiness Meter measures the happiness index of the public and their satisfaction with the services provided by the government and private sectors on a daily basis that takes into account the rapid changes and people's expectations through smart or electronic devices at government entities and the touchpoints available in government websites and smart mobile apps. All of these are connected with a central network that monitors this meter and sends daily reports to decision-makers to monitor the happiest geographical and government zones that are most satisfied with government services with the aim of developing services and improving the happiness of the public about the services provided to them.

mJobs App

Launched by SDG in April 2015, mJobs is the official smart app for fresh graduates or experienced professionals to search for government jobs in Dubai through smart devices. You can register with the app for free and search and apply for the available vacancies. Customers can access the app under the name ‘mJobs’ from Google Play Store for Android users and Apple Store for iPhone users.

Customers will be able to benefit from the job vacancies provided by 20 Dubai government entities including creating a new account; updating their personal file; easily viewing all job vacancies available; searching by department, publication date and keywords; adding job vacancies to the job basket to view and apply later; sharing a job vacancy with friends, upload CVs from Dropbox or smart phone; viewing related notifications and tracking application status. Job-seekers can access the app through multiple channels including their Facebook account and can also use their same account with SDG's eJob portal www.ejob.ae. The app contains many other services including how to communicate with SDG and the websites of government entities.

Smart Employee

SDG has designed the Smart Employee app for smart devices and tablets specially for Dubai government employees. The app, available on Apple and Google Play stores under the name 'Smart Employee', can be used by all employees of government entities that use government resources planning systems. It is available in Arabic and English and provides an array of dedicated self-services including submitting leave and return-from-leave requests; inquiring about leave balances, previous leave requests and attendance records; applying for payroll/salary related information including payslips; and checking the team hierarchy and employee data to contact the employee. The app also enables managers to approve leave requests and purchasing requisitions anywhere round the clock and displays notifications for managers to take the appropriate action.

The app is available for 54 government entities and benefits more than 50,000 employees.

 Dubai Now Hub

Based on the vision of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, which calls for creating a single hub with one interface and sign-on, SDG launched the Dubai Now hub during Gitex Technology Week 2015.

It is the first of its kind unified hub for smart government services that enables customers to access all the services and conduct all transactions at any time through multiple smart channels including smartphones, wearables, websites, kiosks, social media channels etc.

This unified hub is aimed at providing a consistent policy for a unified experience for customers through all smart channels. The hub was first launched through the smart phone channel to create the Dubai Now app. Now SDG is using its experience and knowledge gained from the hub to create other channels like smartwatches, wearable etc.

 Tasaheel: Dubai Government HR self-service system

Tasaheel is an interactive service for communication between Dubai government employees and Government Resources Planning (GRP). Offering a secure and direct contact with the systems, Tasaheel provides self-services to employees including submission of leave and return-from-leave requests, applying for a salary certificate and display of salary details, payslip printouts and other services. The system also provides self-services for managers including requesting all the employee's responsibilities to be displayed, accepting or rejecting employees' requests, assessing the employee's performance etc. The service is based on 4 channels:

• The SMS service: SMS Pull service, which enables the employees to send an SMS to 4433 to receive information through an SMS. SMS Push service are automatically sent to employees to inform them of certain events such as payslips, leave approval etc.

• The IVR service allows the employee to listen to their personal details or to receive them as SMS to their mobile numbers, by calling 800 GRP.

• Electronic kiosks across a number of government departments which have been designed for employees who have no access to smart services. They take the shape of ATMs, are easy to use, available in several languages (Arabic, English, and Urdu), save the effort and time of the employee and human resources and make it possible to obtain a printed certificate.

Smart Employee App, which enables the employee to apply for the services provided by the system anytime anywhere in both Arabic and English and is available on mobile phones and tablets.