25 August, 2008

Dubai Government eComplaint

It's always great to see procedures that are otherwise torturous done electronically. I had the misfortune of dealing with Dubai Courts recently. I felt unhappy about the way things have gone (I got the verdict I wanted, but that's not it).. so I thought, hey, let's file an eComplaint, eh?

Little problem. Apparently the entire eGovernment initiative is only designed for IE (Internet Explorer). For those uninitiated, this means that anyone not using Microsoft's browser (and operating system) is locked out of utilizing the eGovernment services.

It is a shame that such an initiative lacks the common sense of being standards compliant and not discriminating against users because of their choice of system. There is absolutely no excuse for such an oversight (or lack of initiative). If Dubai is serious about eGovernment, they should reconsider their technology partners.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

look at the brighter side . . . first file an eComplaint for their lack of oversight in developing the eComplaint system / portal and looking at their response (or lack of) u can decide whether or not to file the other complaint . . .

Anonymous said...

I can't file a complaint because I don't use their brand of software :)

For what it's worth, I use a Mac (and although FireFox is my primary browser, I use Safari, Opera and Flock). None of the above work.

Abid said...

What about using a browser identity spoofer? Does that work, or is the website proprietary (activex)?

Dubai Jazz said...

DE, egovernment is not all the same everywhere; dewa is different fron DM; which is different from Etisalat and so on.

Are you sure what you're saying is applicable to everyone?

Anonymous said...

You get what you pay for.

I've seen most of the tender for those projects, and I know all of the bidders and those who implemented the project and they have not been chosen based on technical merit.

While everyone can understand why a Cayenne cost three time as much as a Pajero most people (not only in public sector) lack the qualifications to understand what makes two similar IT quotation different. So most so-called CIO will go for the cheapest offer (modulo the size of the backshish).

This is why the Dubai court website doesn't work in most browser. This is why Salik website is still half finished after a year. This is why Dubai police is not accessible half of the time and crash way to often during a simple fine lookup.
This is why Etisalat website has one of the most retarded navigation scheme, broken search box, login issue and why it took them so long to figure out the link soup between eim.ae etisalat.ae, alshamil.ae and it's nowhere near good as of today.

I have a long list like that.

Now for fun, go compare with other countries. France was a nice case study in eGovernment implementation as they have a successful implementation in the form of www.service-public.fr which regroup all the different government agencies under one umbrella. It has been up and running since I think 2002. Not without quirks of course but not that much. And with proper planning and investment they did not need to redo everything twice to get it right.

Study is old (2003) and can found here: http://www-03.ibm.com/industries/government/doc/content/resource/thought/1261998109.html

*Disclaimer*
IBM was suggesting to use France as a benchmark not me.
I don't work for IBM but I have worked with IBM.

Anonymous said...

Little add-on: since I followed, by professional interest, the French eGov project. I have to add that it only worked because the highest ranking officials got involved (I think PM) and all internal fighting between the different agencies got squashed right at the beginning of the project and everyone was ordered to cooperate "or else...".

Here, pride and "like my neighbor" attitude as a big impact. There are way too many separate eGovernment "initiatives" for one country that small.

Anonymous said...

There is a contact us section in dubai.ae - which is the central website of teh government...may be worth your while to complain there..

Lirun said...

hello

if it is any consolation - as an international lawyer who has worked and studied law in several jurisdictions i can tell you that i have never met people that found court pleasurable (other than lawyers)..

most places are looking for ways to improve..

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter anyway, because filing a complaint is totally useless. After I filed a complaint and followed up with numerous emails, I never even received the courtesy of a reply.

Anonymous said...

Our IT team says that the website is compliant with other browsers.
Can the original complainant send all details of his complaint & webshots (if any) to quality@dubai.ae, so that we can take remedial action.
Thank you.

Unknown said...

By integrating the eServices offered by government departments, we aim to provide services and information on a 24/7 basis for citizens, residents, visitors and businesses.
-----------------
Dhananjay

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