TRA Hosts the First Meeting of the Executive Team of the Online Service Index (OSI)

Within the activities of the National Agenda Executive Teams

Mobilk - The Executive Team of the Online Service Index (OSI) has held its first meeting following the invitation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). The meeting was held in TRAs office in Dubai. The team has discussed the coordination of efforts during the next phase to accelerate the achievement of the targeted OSI result according to the national agenda.

The meeting included as presentation of the OSI and its method of calculation within the UN E-Government Survey report, which is produced every two years by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The discussions focused on the proposed plan of action to achieve the desired objectives, most importantly the compatibility of the Government portal with the latest global developments and the customers needs, following on the OSI, promoting the use of e-services, the unified mobile application of the mGovernment, the second phase of FedNET, the Smart Pass service, the mLab, and the e-Participation National Plan.

In this regards, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director General, said: "Achieving the National Agenda Indexes is at the core of our work as one government team during the next phase. We are confident that we will achieve the desired results, which will be the outcome of a joint national effort, and coordinated government efforts between several federal and national entities as well as private sector companies. Here, we would like to commend on the pivotal and interactive role of all involved parties in plans achievement and serious commitment to the schedules. The teamwork and constant strive to improve the adopted mechanisms as well as using latest technologies and developed solutions consist the main key that will enable us to realize the desired objectives in reaching first places in the global competitiveness indexes."

"I would like to seize this opportunity to extend my gratitude and appreciations to the colleagues at the government entities for their cooperation and deep understanding of the importance of these efforts and the plans in this context. I assure that the next period will witness numerous meetings on all levels to review the performance, develop the track, make the necessary assessments, and deal with the challenges to reach the objectives." H.E Al Mansoori added.

Moreover, Salem Al Housani, Acting Deputy Director General for Information and mGovernment Sector in TRA and the Executive Team Leader, said: "The UAE National Agenda sets 52 national indexes, and for each national index there is a national objective that government entities cooperate with the private sector to achieve. These indexes are distributed on six national priorities: world-class healthcare, first-rate education system, competitive innovative knowledge economy, cohesive society and preserved identity, sustainable environment and infrastructure, safe public and fair judiciary."

Al Housani Added: "The national team contains representatives of 11 federal and local government entities. Our priorities includes providing a sustainable environment and an integrated infrastructure, in addition to working on achieving the planned objectives on the international level, where the UN e-Government report is our reference. Currently we use the latest global trends in the e-government survey, which are bridging the digital gap, open data, enhancing the usage, several channels services, inter-connected government and e-participation. Based on these trends, the team has developed a map of the participating and relevant entities, in addition to their effect on the achievement of the national index, for the purpose of enhancing our competitiveness global position, taking into account the development of innovative initiatives and mechanisms for highly efficient implementation, as well as ensuring the achievement of the national index objective to achieve global leadership by 2021 in OSI."

During the meeting, the participants have discussed the standards and levels of e-services maturity, and the map of concerned entities, and their relation to the countrys national portal, and the entities contribution mechanisms in achieving sustainable development, through cooperation and collaboration with the mGovernment.

Regarding the scope of the national index and the detailed calculation mechanism, four key points have been reviewed: the calculation purpose, the definition reference, which is the UN e-government report, the exclusions of the scope if any, and the index scope of work.

Additionally, the meeting has discussed the open data portal, which offers the government data for public use in a reusable and amendable form, which benefit entrepreneurs, investors and the society. The participants have been divided into working groups to work on different topics in the next phase, including a plan to establish a number of joint workshops to ensure the implementation of the required tasks to reach the target.

The executive team consists of TRA, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation, Smart Dubai, and Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Center.

The Executive Teams... A working mechanism to achieve 52 national indexes..

It is worth mentioning that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has directed last October on the formation of the executive teams of the national agenda, consisting of 550 officials of different entities, sectors and levels, to work on the achievement of 52 national indexes to measure the countrys accomplishments in leadership, happiness and welfare of society, within 6 national priorities: health, education, economy, environment and infrastructure, community, safety and judiciary.

The executive teams are tasked to develop integrated action plans that include initiatives of quick, medium and long-term impact, as well as suggesting joint sub-work teams to perform the tasks and initiatives, supervise the plan implementation using innovative tools, and coordinating with different government and international relevant entities, to ensure the implementation and performance results, and submitting periodic reports in this regards.