Case Studies: Government

Epidemic. It is a word that can strike as much fear in a population as yelling "fire" in a crowded movie theater. Whether the disease is SARS, the Bird Flu, or the West Nile Virus, the key to addressing a medical emergency—as well as to quell a dangerous public panic— is to identify a potential outbreak early, marshal medical resources rapidly, and contain the situation before it goes beyond control. It also requires cooperation, coordination, and proactive collaboration across federal, state, and local health and emergency management agencies. This is a discipline the Arizona Department of Health Services—via its successful SIREN program—is attempting to master with Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and Microsoft .NET products and services.

The Ministry of Labour has full responsibility for employment and labour relations in the United Arab Emirates, one of the fastest growing economies in the world. With more than 2 million expatriates from 202 different nationalities needing to work there, the ministry wanted to automate work-permit and visa processing to deliver a better service for employers and employees alike. Working with Global Information Technology, the ministry has automated the process through an online portal solution using Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 and the Microsoft .NET Framework. By automating processes, the ministry has cut the time it takes to issue visas or work permits by around 95 per cent, with permits that used to take two months now being ready in 15 minutes. The ministry’s 650 people were managing 750,000 transactions a year with the old system, but are now handling more than 2.5 million a year.

The Ministry of Informatics in the Czech Republic wanted to create a single solution for individuals and organisations to conduct online transactions with government ministries and public-sector agencies. It also decided to create a clearly defined interoperability standard for local software developers to write their own applications for direct communication with the E-Government Gateway, called the Portal of Public Administration (PPA). Working with Microsoft® Services, the ministry based the solution on the United Kingdom’s Government Gateway, which uses open standard Microsoft technology. The project has made a major contribution to the development of e-government in the Czech Republic in just three years. By July 2006, 50,000 users had registered with the gateway and 800,000 online submissions had been made, representing a total of almost 10 million electronic forms.