Planned services include:

• Subscription to SMS services:
  • Reminder/cancellation of appointments with the city’s Municipal Tax Office
  • City-Council alerts on citizens’ tax overpayments
  • Status alerts for an appeal against or declaration of a fine
• SMS services now available:
  • Residency certificate applications
  • Checking availability of Bicing stations
  • Consulting polling stations
  • Barcelona Wi-Fi hot spots
• iPhone applications: iBicing
• SMS alerts for status changes in online procedures

What does it do?

These mobile applications extend Barcelona City Council’s range of services and are adapted to the new tools used daily by the public, through which users gain access, from any location, to procedures they may have to carry out or information they may need to receive.

These are new added-value services for city residents, to boost this mobile platform.

Currently available by texting to 7010.

Did you know that..?

• You can use any mobile telephone to carry out administrative procedures and receive information from the City Council

• There are applications available for iPhones and for SMS and WAP services

(Source: http://w3.bcn.cat/egovernment/en/barcelona_productes_mobils.html)

A new job ad system is attracting great interest and threatens to do for web based job advertising what the internet did for old fashion print ads. Job Seekers can now register once at www.smsthejob.com.au, choose their job preferences and upload their resume.

They then receive job ads broadcast directly to their mobile phones free of charge.

If one of the sms job ads is of interest then a simple “reply” sms, quoting the job reference sent with the ad, will cause the job seekers resume to be professionally forwarded to the advertiser’s email address as an application for their role.

It is all handled very smoothly by the SMStheJOB system.

Really very painless to set up
>> Job Seekers complete the very simple registration for FREE
>> Jobs meeting the chosen criteria will be sent to the mobile also for FREE.
>> If a job ad is of interest then a simple “reply” sms, quoting the job number sent with the ad, will cause a full application to be sent automatically.

Benefits
* SMStheJOB employs researchers who will find and broadcast roles to suit your preferences.
* You never have to visit a job board again, however if you wish your SMStheJOB web based account comes fully loaded with an entire job search management system that allows you to organise your applications, modify your resume, turn emails & sms broadcasting on or off, determine a maximum number of jobs received and see a copy of the full text ads sent to you .
* You receive job ad alerts to your mobile as they are listed on the site.
* Your application is dispatched to the advertiser when you reply to the job alert immediately.
* Finally you are released from the hours of searching through millions of web based job ads for suitable roles. They come to you allowing you to live a life.
* By registering early you get to the early advantage over others slower to move with the times and still bogged down by having to be near a computer screen.

Dubai: In an attempt to offer more convenient services to the residents, Dubai is moving its government-related services from e-government to m-government.

Since the launch of Dubai e-government seven years ago, all Dubai Government Departments have been increasing e-services. As a result, almost all government-related services have now been made available online.

However, as the world moves towards mobile phone-based applications and services, there has been a growing need for m-commerce and m-services for people on the move, to access information and services.

At the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (Gitex) 2009 government departments are showcasing their newest e- and m-services.

Mobile phones are used by a much wider spectrum of the public than the internet which requires a certain level of computer literacy.

In line with its strategy to facilitate access to its services and to simplify procedures for all residents, Dubai Police, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) have unveiled new mobile services at Gitex 2009.

SMS notification is one of the services used by all government institutions to inform clients about the status of their applications, records and new procedures and services offered by them.

Dubai Police

As part of a greater programme to simplify procedures, the Dubai Police seek to make mobile phones a delivery channel for its services to clients.

Ahmad Qaied, Computer Programmer and Analyst at Dubai Police, told Gulf News: “Recent statistics show millions of mobile users in the UAE have access to the internet through the mNet service which is supported even while roaming worldwide.

“Dubai residents are able to check or pay their traffic fines and fees by mobile phone through the mPay or Star Service ( *123#).”

However, to use all traffic services, Qaied said users are urged to register by inputting their traffic data accurately on the subscription page.

Also Dubai Police have a programme “Take care about the victim”, an SMS service which sends a regular follow-up notification to the victims about the status of complaints they filed with the police.

Residency

The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department is providing a new mobile phone-enabled service that lets users download a visa.

It is one of the latest innovations DNRD unveiled during Gitex 2009.

Director of DNRD’s IT Project Management, First Lieutenant Khalid Bin Mediya Al Falasi, said: “This service is very helpful for everyone as they can check visa status, rules for new residency visas and transactions from anywhere using your own mobile.”

The DNRD found that there was no better alternative other than for mobile phones to be a way to ease service delivery, he added.

However, one must first register for this service with the DNRD.

Mobile phones will be used by visitors to enter Dubai.

“Through the M-visa, visitors, residents and guests residing in Dubai and abroad will receive instant notification via e-mail and text messages upon issuance of their entry permits or visas of all types.”

“When their visa is issued, the user will be notified through an e-mail message with an original e-visa document, bearing the DNRD logo and signature of the director,” he said.

The secure PDF file will prevent any tampering with the details of the visitor.

RTA

Now people are able to pay their car parking fees via etisalat or du mobile through the mParking service.

This service includes all parking areas in Bur Dubai and will be expanded to all of the city’s districts by the beginning of 2011.

By sending an SMS to 7275 indicating the car plate number, zone number and duration of parking in hours a driver will receive a confirmation message which includes the virtual ticket details.

Al Bastaki said: “RTA also offers the mPay service for Salik but with a pre-registration for the personal details, car plate number and credit card information.”
(source: http://gulfnews.com/business/technology/m-services-to-simplify-things-for-all-1.517675)

Fifty four (54) national government agencies, out of the three twenty four, have short
messaging (SMS) facility to augment traditional public services as of December 2008. These
agencies take advantage of the fact that many Filipinos own cellular phones and the
country’s reputation as the “SMS Capital of the World.”

Services being offered can be as simple as accessing information; sending complaints,
comments, or recommendations; or as fancy as downloading pictures, graphics, or ring
tones; or as specialized as reporting crimes or paying taxes.

The access numbers used by the agencies can be classified into two categories. One is
the regular eleven-digit number and the other a special number usually shorter than eleven
digits. Of the fifty four agencies, about sixty percent (60%) use the special access numbers.
Using special numbers has the convenience of easily remembering the access numbers
such as the three-digit 211 of the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) or the eight-digit 700-
NEARE of the National Electrification Administration. But sending SMS messages via
special numbers cost 2.50 pesos while via that of ordinary numbers cost only one peso.

Moreover, subscribers of any of the three local mobile service companies can use the
ordinary eleven-digit access numbers, unlike some of the special numbers that are only
accessible to particular subscribers.

For this report update, the Plans Review and Monitoring Office (PRMO) has used
website visits and telephone interviews. Annex A contains the alphabetical list of NGAs with
SMS facility while Annex B contains the list of formats of the NGA’s SMS facility.
Comments, suggestions and clarifications regarding the study may be sent to Ms. Lorna
M. Sales, Director, PRMO or to Ms. Jocelyn V. Tendenilla, Head, ICT Plans Monitoring
Group, PRMO, via email at ictmonitor@ncc.gov.ph.

Source and detail of the departments can be accessed at: http://www.ncc.gov.ph/files/sms_report1208.pdf

This novel solution uses mobile technology and an integrated system between two the RCA and the Ministry of Manpower to enable Omani citizens to apply for job advertisements by sending an SMS and get the first response within seconds.

The World Summit Award is instituted as part of the initiatives under the World Summit for Information Society as a means to recognise creativity in digital content and enhance the quality of electronic contents and widen its reach for the common benefit of the world society as a whole.

The final award ceremony to honour excellence in multimedia and e-Content creation will be held on the 12th June 2009 in Mexico, USA. All the 40 winning entries in 8 different categories will be present at this grand finale event and receive their awards. The Winners’ teams are invited to personally receive their certificate and trophy amidst dignitaries from the government, private sector and the United Nations.

HE.Sultan Mohammed Al Namani, Secretary General, Royal Court Affairs expressed his delight by stating that, “The Royal Court Affairs winning the World Summit Award in the e-government category is in line with His majesty’s vision for excellence in using technology to deliver public service. This award is also a big recognition for the hard work put in by our team of staff in cooperation with the Ministry of Manpower. We express our sincere thanks to ministry of manpower and the staff of RCA, and we look forward to many more such international honours for their efforts.”

The Electronic Evaluation System is an innovative approach utilising the Ministry of Manpower systems to cross-match applications that are submitted for vacancies at the Royal Court Affairs with least manual intervention and effort. This solution has stood out in the e-government category as a winning entry because of effective utilisation of existing infrastructure to enable efficiency in service delivery.

The new system has reduced the process cycle time to 5-10seconds and brought down the cost of processing to only 10Baiza through automated sorting of applications. In addition the solution also helps the Ministry of Manpower to maintain information accuracy and promote transparency in the recruitment process ensuring equal opportunity for all.

Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA congratulated the entire team behind this technical solution for winning this prestigious award and said, “I am glad for Oman winning this unique worldwide honour. The achievement of this international award for the ‘Recruitment through Mobile SMS’ is an important recognition and a very good motivation to promote e-government services for the realisation of His Majesty’s vision through the implementation of the eOman strategy.”

“The success of this national IT strategy depends on how the use of technology can benefit the citizen by offering high quality services at their convenience. The worldwide recognition also encourages the efforts made by the team in developing and offering world-class solution for e-government. We are proud of this unique accomplishment and we thank the Royal Court Affairs for their cooperation and efforts in achieving these honours. We also hope that this will motivate other organisations in harnessing technology for offering public services in competitive manner,” Al Ruzaiqi added.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005, linked Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with human development and called on Member States to build a global ‘inclusive, people-centred and development-oriented information society’ through the sharing of information and knowledge. In line with this mission an International digital content competition was organised under the title ‘World Summit Awards’ (WSA).

WSA is a worldwide initiative run by a non-profit group to select and promote the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. WSA was started in 2003 in the framework of the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as a contribution of the Austrian Government to make a global effort to bridge the digital divide and close the content gap. Over 100 countries are actively involved in this award and around 700 nominations were made for the WSA 2007.

The WSA has been held every two years in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and the current session of the WSA 2009 is on. The two-year duration permits holding content-focused national and international conferences with exhibitions and the WSA road shows to promote the winning entries wider.

The activities of WSA and its global networking are coordinated by the WSA Office at the International Center for New Media (ICNM). ICNM is an independent non-profit organisation chartered in Austria. It aims to promote innovation and creativity in multimedia and Internet by means of best practice selection and showcasing.

The award focuses on quality digital content as the proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies has an economic and social impact worldwide. Digital technologies enable pictures, text and multimedia data are sent and received faster, more target-orientated, anywhere around the globe.

At the same time, there is need to recognise good contents and quality applications out of the information tsunami online. This quality ensures that they can be reached effortlessly and have a profound impact on larger sections of the community.

So the award recognises of those who design and develop quality content with creative imagination and sound technical know how. A focus on technology at the expense of content clearly results in content gap which also increases the digital divide between those who can benefit from online content/services and those cannot.

Nasser Al Badri, Head of Recruitment and Omanisation Office at the Royal Court Affairs, described the award winning solution as follows, “The solution is to perform first short listing operation of the job applicant by integrating the RCA application program, the Ministry of Manpower (MoMP) registration system and Mobile Phone technology. Applicants can apply for RCA vacancies by sending an SMS with the MoMP registration code and their preferred Job Code. A mediator system will fetch the applicant details from the MoMP and the job requirements from office of recruitment in RCA. Next, it matches the codes between the registrant and the job and if successful, then the candidate is shortlisted.”

“The system will also check any further requirements like Area, Driving License, Qualification, Specialisation, Experience, occupational experience, Training requirements of the candidates with details of the applied candidate. If the candidate does not satisfy any of the above conditions then the candidate’s application will be rejected and an SMS will be sent to the candidate with valid reason as to why the candidate is rejected,” Al Badri said.

“Once the candidate satisfies all the requirement of the applied job then the candidate is validated and a registration number is generated. A message will be sent with this registration number along with a congratulatory message. Through this project Omani citizens have been greatly benefitted because now they can seek jobs that befit their qualifications and can edit their applications and reapply with the same registered details from anywhere through an SMS without having to travel to ministry office,” he added.

Commenting on her role as the National expert for Oman, Mrs. Zawan Al Sabti of ITA said, “I am honoured to serve my role for the WSA with the support of ITA and other government organizations. I am fortunate to be selected as one of 32 jurors to evaluate best contents from the globe for the second time and it is my responsibility to nominate best e-content application from the Sultanate of Oman in the WSA.”

E-Content products or ICT applications enter into the WSA through national level e-content contests. The national winners can then be nominated for the international WSA in the eight categories that have established based on the social impact in every-day life of world citizen. People from everywhere and every walk of life must have affordable access to quality e-Contents and applications in Health, politics, business, science, education, culture, and entertainment to improve their knowledge as well as life style.

E-Government & Institutions, e-Health & Environment, e-Learning & Education, e-Entertainment & Games, e-Culture & Heritage, e-Science & Technology, e-Business & Commerce and e-Inclusion & Participation are the 8 official categories for nominations.

The Sultanate of Oman has made yet another mark in the international arena by winning in this year’s World Summit Award and the earlier honour came from the Higher Education Admission System winning a similar award in the e-content category in theWSA2008. It is evident that the progress made by Oman in offering effective e-government solution through a strategic vision has been recognised at global level.

(Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/194341.html) 28/4/2009

The new Oman Air SMS service gives access to scheduling, fare enquiries and booking status. Nawras customers can also use the service to update their local contact details or to make a request ordering a special meal or a preferred seat for example.

From now, Oman Air customers using a Nawras SIM-card will have an option to receive messages on various products and services offered by the airline.

Mr. Hamad Saif Al Harthy, Senior Manager Reservation and Global Distribution of Oman Air, said:
“We urge customers in general and travel agents in particular to ensure their mobile numbers are provided at the time of booking so that passengers can be reached around the clock and 365 days.”

Its is also worth mentioning that in December 2008, Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman launched its SMS notification services which informed customers about any flight schedule changes or cancelations and this has now been extended to a complete and innovative SMS enquiry service.

On his part, Mohammed Al Najwani, Product Manager at Nawras said that the innovative communications provider was proud to be associated with Tamimah and the national carrier and to be the first to launch this important product. Nawras, which commenced its operations in March 2005, has since pioneered the introduction of many creative new services for its customers such as VoiceSMS, prayer time notification and most recently, the entertaining BawaBaty wap portal.

“Nawras is committed to using the latest technology to bring convenience to customers in a user-friendly way. This service offers great value and a new channel of information to our national carrier, Oman Air,” said Najwani.

Mr. O.K Ravi, General Manager of Tamimah Telecom, the pioneers of the SMS solution provider commented that Oman Air’s SMS Information System is a new service offered to everyone who wants information via their mobile phone about Schedule Enquiry, Seat Availability, Fare enquiry, Flight Information and so on. A complete list of services and how to use them can be obtained by sending “HELP” to 90910. He also commented that Tamimah is committed to contribute its core technology in the development and growth of Oman towards e-government.

Mohammed Al-Harthy, Chairman of Tamimah, said, “We believe in innovation and are happy to partner with Oman Air and Nawras in launching this innovative service which is one of the first of its kind in this region.”

Oman Air’s SMS Service is very easy to use. As an example, a customer who would like to check seat availability on a flight from Muscat to Salalah on the 09 July 2009 would send SA MCT SLL 0907 to the code 90910. To find out the flight cost for the same date, the fare enquiry message would be FE MCT SLL 0907.

The service can even be accessed when travelling outside the Sultanate where international roaming rates would apply.
(Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/201186.html) 21/6/2009