e services ebook

كتاب البحوث وأوراق العملھـ١٤٢٩صفر٢٠-١٩الخبرالخطوة التالیة؟ :ةمستقبل الخدمات االلكترونی-للخدمات االلكترونیة بالمنطقة الشرقیةالملتقى الثالث

Third eServices Symposium: The Future of eServices: The Next Step? Khubar 26-27 February, 2008 Book of Proceedings

I

The Third e-Services Symposium inThe Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

The Future of eServices: The Next Step?25-28 February, 2008 / 18-21 Safar, 1429In the Meridian Hotel, Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Book of ProceedingsResearch and Working Papers



II

In the Name of Allah

The Most Merciful The Most Compassionate

Organizingالجھة المنظمة Body

كتاب البحوث وأوراق العملھـ١٤٢٩صفر٢٠-١٩الخبرالتالیة؟ الخطوة :ةمستقبل الخدمات االلكترونی-للخدمات االلكترونیة بالمنطقة الشرقیةالملتقى الثالث


I

ORGANIZING BODY:

The Emirates of the Eastern Province

And

e-Services Committee of the Eastern Province

THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

1. Prof. Mahmoud Ahmed Abdellatif KFU Chairman

2. Prof. Nouby Mahmoud Hassan KSU Member

3. Dr. Rabee Mohamed Reffat KFUPM Member

4. Dr. Mohammed Mahmoud Maatook KAU Member

5. Dr. Bhzad Sidawi KFU Member

PROCEEDINGS EDITOR:

Prof. Mahmoud Ahmed Abdellatif

Tableقائمة المحتویات of Contents



II

Table of Contents

PREFACE FROM THE EMITATE OF THE EASTERN PROVINCE: ............................................................

Mr. Zarib Saeed AlQahtani .............................................................................................................. V

PREFACE FROM THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE: ....................................................................................

Prof. Mahmoud Ahmed Abdellatif.................................................................................................... VI

THE ORGANING COMMITTEES: ........................................................................................................ VIII

1-THEME ONE: NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR USE IN PROVIDING ESERVICES........................... 1

1-1 LOCATION BASED ELECTRONIC SERVICES .................................................................................Dr. Abdullah H. Alkadi ..................................................................................................................... 1

1-2 A STRATEGIC APPROACH FOR MUNICIPAL ESERVICES: THE CASE OF BUILDINGDEVELOPMENT DIVISIONS .........................................................................................................

Dr. Rabee M. Reffat ........................................................................................................................ 21-3 RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) FOR AUTOMATING BUSINESS PROCESSES ..........

Eng. Mahmod S. Al-Muhamed ........................................................................................................131-4 WIRELESS MOBILE SERVICES FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS.................................................

Eng. Ramadan A. Fan....................................................................................................................241-5 VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS AND FUTURE OF E-SERVICES: AN INDUCTIVE VISION .......................

Dr. Khaled Salah Said Abdelmagid .................................................................................................311-6 RIYADH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE IN PRESENTING ELECTRONIC

SERVICES ...................................................................................................................................Dr. Saud H. Al-Sehali .....................................................................................................................32

1-7 POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES OF THE APPLICATION OF E-GOVERNMENT IN SAUDI ARABIANORGANIZATION OF STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS ...........................................................

Eng. Talat AbdulQader AlRahalli.....................................................................................................331-8 POTENTIAL CONSIDERATION OF EBUSINESS TECHNOLOGY IN THE CURRICLUM OF

ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING IN KING FAISAL UNIVERSITY ..................................................Dr. Bhzad Sidawi ...........................................................................................................................34

1-9 KING SAUD UNIVERSITY ELECTRONIC PORTAL: FROM A VISION TO REALITY ............................Eng. Esam A. Alwagait...................................................................................................................42

1-10 SOCIAL ENGINEERING AS AWARENESS METHOD FOR INFORMATION SECURITY ....................Eng. Waheed H. Alkahtani..............................................................................................................43

1-11 ESERVICES@KFUPM: STATUS AND CHALLENGES ....................................................................Prof. Sadiq M. Sait .........................................................................................................................44

1-12 DEVELOPING AN ENTERPRISE IT ARCHITECTURE.....................................................................Eng. Fathi M. Alwosaibi ..................................................................................................................45

1-13 VIDEO-MEDIATED AND LIVE INTERACTION BASED COMMUNICATION CHANNELS: TOWARDSBETTER E-GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE ................................................................................

Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef ...................................................................................................................461-14 SAUDI ARAMCO HEALTHCARE LINK (SAHL): THE AUTOMATION OF INTERLINK OF MEDICAL

SERVICES BETWEEN SAUDI ARAMCO AND MEDICAL SERVICE PROVIDERS ............................Eng. Saeed O. Amoudi...................................................................................................................58

2- THEME 2: BUILDING THE E-SERVICES CULTURE AND SOCIETY AWARENESS OF IT ...................59

2-1 IS MEDIUM THE MASSAGE? ..........................................................................................................Mr. Ahmad Zahidah, M. Sc. PGD, ...................................................................................................60

2-2 INTRODUCING ESERVICES: THE CHALLENGE OF MANAGING THE CHANGE ...............................Eng. Faisal M. Al-Naim, M. Sc., MBA ..............................................................................................61

2-3 CYBER LAW AND THE SAUDI ARABIA KINGDOM’S RESPONSIBILITY............................................Mr. Abdu A. Albur ..........................................................................................................................62

2-4 THE IMPACT OF THE USE OF E-SERVICES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING SOCIETY INSAUDI ARABIA.............................................................................................................................

Eng. Anwar A. Hasan, M Sc. ..........................................................................................................742-5 EGOVERNMENT: HINDRANCES AND SOLUTIONS ........................................................................




III

Eng. Bahjat S. Fakieh ....................................................................................................................752-6 COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ATTITUDE AMONG SAUDI

UNIVERSITIES STUDENTS: THE CASE OF KING FAISAL UNIVERSITY.........................................Dr. Ahmed Alshoaibi ......................................................................................................................76

3- THEME 3: ESERVICES INFORMATION SECURITY ...........................................................................78

3-1 ESERVICE SECURITY REQUIREMENTS: OBJECTIVES AND RISKS ...............................................Eng. Saleh M. Al-Ghamdi ...............................................................................................................80

3-2 SECURING ESERVICES: CHALLENGES AND NEW TRENDS- A PRACTICAL GUIDE .......................Dr. Nasser ALMeshary ...................................................................................................................81

3-3 SEEING THE UNSEEN: THE ONLINE IDENTITY THEFT...................................................................Mrs. Manal Masoud Al-Sharif..........................................................................................................82

3-4 DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS TO PROTECT INFORMATION FROM SPY ..Major Dr. Mohammed A. Aseeri ......................................................................................................83

3-5 E-GOVERNMENT APPLICATIONS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS ..............................................Mr. Yahya M. Ali Abu Mmaghaied, MBA ..........................................................................................84

4- THEME FOUR: LIMITATIONS AND POTENTIALS OF ESERVICES....................................................86

4-1 ESERVICES: CHALLENGES AND MECHANISMS IN THE TRANSITION TO ECOMMUNITY ..............Eng. Saeed A. Bawazir and Mr. Husam A. BenSeddeekk .................................................................87

4-2 SMART CITY MOBILE WORLD........................................................................................................Eng. Ammar Enaya........................................................................................................................88

4-3 MANAGED SERVICES, WHAT, WHY AND HOW? ARABIAN INTERNET AND COMMUNICATIONS:AWALNET....................................................................................................................................

Eng. Fahad Al-Hussaini..................................................................................................................894-4 E-LEARNING AND VIRTUAL CLASSES: NAIZAK GLOBAL ENGINEERING SYSTEMS ......................

Eng. Basheer M. Al-Ghazali ...........................................................................................................904-5 THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO SORT OUT BUSINESS PROBLEMS: THE BUSINESS SYSTEMS

OF AL ALAMIAH INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER & TECHNOLOGY ..................................................Mrs. Nadia y. ALsaleh ....................................................................................................................91

5- THEME FIVE: ESERVICES EXPERIENCES AND SUCCESSES .........................................................92

5-1 ACHIVEMENTS OF THE EMARAH OF AL-BAHA REGION IN EGOVERNMENT .................................Prince Salman Ben Faisal Ben Mohammed Ben Saud .....................................................................93

5-2 THE ESERVICES IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH: SHARQIYAH HEALTH .........................................Dr Khaled AlTurki...........................................................................................................................94

5-3 E-TRAINING SERVICE: E-GOVERNMENT TRAIL IN EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT ..............................................Dr.Ibrahim Salim Al Saikhan and Mr. Naif Ghazi Al Harbi .................................................................95

5-4 E-SERVICES AT JUBIAL INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE............................................................................Mr. Eid F. Al-Rasheedi ...................................................................................................................96

5-5 THE ESYSTEM FOR COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE IN THE ROYAL COMMISSION OF JUBAIL ..........Mr. Ali M. Uqaily ............................................................................................................................97

5-6 ERP PROJECT (SAFEER) IN THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION INJUBAIL.........................................................................................................................................

Mr. Musfer Ali Al-Ghamdi ...............................................................................................................985-7 EHEALTH IN JUBAIL INDUSTRIAL CITY..........................................................................................

Eng. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed Al-zahrani ..........................................................................................995-8 E-EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION FOR JUBAIL ...............................

Mr. Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Musnad................................................................................................1005-9 NET PARKS IN THE INDUSTRIAL CITY AL-JUBIAL..........................................................................

Mr. Melab Ashwei Aldhafeerie ......................................................................................................1015-10 THE MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IMPLEMENTATION OF MANAGEMENT OF

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OF KING ABDULLAH OUTSIDE SCHOLARSHIPS' PROGRAM(KAOSP) ......................................................................................................................................

Prof. Abdullah Abdul-Aziz AlMousa ...............................................................................................1025-11 THE E-GOVERNMENT PROGRAM “YESSER”: RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROJECT

MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY “YESMETHOD” .........................................................................Eng. Suhail M. Al-Almaee.............................................................................................................103




IV

5-12 E-COLLEGE AS AN INTEGRATED INSTITUTIONAL SOLUTION FOR PROVIDING E-SERVICES INTHE FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN- KAU ....................................................................

Dr. Mohamed M. H. Maatouk ........................................................................................................1045-13 E-HEALTH STRATEGIES TO MANAGE COST, MARKET POTENTIAL, AND BUSINESS

OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FOUR MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES ......................................................Eng. Mustafa H. Qurban* and Mr. Richmond D. Austria** ...............................................................113

5-14 THE FEATURES OF THE WEB SITE OF THE BRANCH OF THE INDUSTRY AND COMMERCEMINISTRY IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE ......................................................................................

Mr. Mousa Jaafar AlKhadhabah ...................................................................................................1315-15 PRINCE MOHAMMED BEN FAHAD UINIVERSITY ESERVICES EXPERIENCE ...............................

Mr. Osama S AlSaif, MTA, MBA ...................................................................................................1325-16 NEELWAFURAT.COM LIBRARY: NEELWAFURAT.COM EXPERIENCE IN SELLING ARABIC

BOOKS OVER THE INTERNET AND HOW TO BENEFIT FROM THE GROWING E-COMMERCESECTOR ......................................................................................................................................

Mr. Salah Chebaro.......................................................................................................................1335-17 ACHIEVEMENTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT SAUDI ORGANIZATION

OF INDUSTRIAL ESTATES & TECHNOLOGY ZONES (SOIETZ) ....................................................Eng. Saleh I. Al-Rasheed .............................................................................................................134

5-18 HUMAN RESOURCES WEBSITE (HR ONLINE) AT SAUDI ARAMCO ..............................................Mr. Isa M. Al-Hashem ..................................................................................................................135

5-19 E-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS IN ALAHSSA MUNICIPALITY ..........................................................Mr. Hamdan Odah AlBalwi ...........................................................................................................136

5-20 ELECTRONIC SOCIAL INSURANCE (EGOSI) ..........................................................................................Mr. Nawaf M Al Badia ..................................................................................................................137

FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................138

Prefaceتقدیم إمارة المنطقة الشرقیة from the Emirate of the Eastern Province



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Preface from the Emirate of theEastern Province:Mr. Zarib Saeed AlQahtani

Deputy of the Emirate of the Eastern Province

All praise is to Allah and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad, and upon his family,companions, and followers.

We all feel the unlimited interest of His Highness Prince Mohammed Ben Abdulaziz (thePrince of the Eastern Province) and His Deputy His Highness Prince Jalawi Ben Abdulaziz BenMusaid to utilize the latest advancements of science and technology to ease and improve thedaily lives of citizens and to speed and enhance the quality of providing them with servicesavoiding negative consequences of delay resulting from repeated inquires, follow ups, andphysical commuting.

To realize these aims, and to fulfill the directions of Custodian of the Two Holly Mosquesand His loyal Crown Prince, the Emirate of the Eastern Province has strived for popularizing theeServices concept in the all governmental facilities in the Emirate and in other centers all overthe Eastern Province departments which provide services to citizens. This has been achievedthrough a primary portal in the world wide web.

Seeking continuous progress and optimum use in eServices, the Technical Committee ofeServices in the Eastern Province holds a n annual Symposium which polarizes the bestacademic and professional elites in the eServices field and other related fields.

The success of the First and Second Symposiums held in the previous two years was adriving force to held this third Symposium this year with a hope to reach more usefulrecommendations and to gain fruitful lessons from the experiments and experiencesparticipating in the working sessions of the Symposium.

The organizing Committee has decided to compile all the scientific papers and experimentsdiscussed in the sessions in this Book of Proceedings to make it handy to all those who areinterested and working in the eServices field.

I ask Allah Almighty to make this work in His sake and to make it useful and to rewardeverybody participated in it.

Mr. Zarib Saeed AlQahtani

Deputy of the Emirate of the Eastern Province

Prefaceتقدیم اللجنة العلمیة from the Scientific Committee



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Preface from the Scientific Committee:Prof. Mahmoud Ahmed Abdellatif

Editor of the Proceedings and Chairman of the Scientific Committee

All praise is to Allah (SWT) the Facilitator and Provider of all our needs and the source of our guidance.Peace and blessings upon Prophet Mohammad, the Messenger of mercy to all mankind.

Following the success of the Second e-Services Symposium in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabiawhich was held in December 2006, comes the Third Symposium in February of this year (2008) reflectingthe unlimited interest of His Highness Prince Mohammed Ben Abdulaziz (the Prince of the EasternProvince) and His Deputy His Highness Prince Jalawi Ben Abdulaziz Ben Musaid in the development ofnew electronic means and methods of conducting services achieving quality, efficiency and easiness andhence, saving the time, effort and energy of the citizens of the Eastern Province.

From this conception, the e-Services Symposium has become a regular scientific arena where manyspecialists and expertise (in the fields of communications, information technology, administration, business,planning, and other related fields) meet each year. Through scientific papers, presentations, discussions,interactions, and healthy exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of e-services; the Symposium hasbecome a prominent step in the ongoing efforts to improve the electronic services practices in the EasternProvince at all planning, design, implementation, and administration and management levels. Thesymposium provides an opportunity to shed lights on means to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness ofinformation management and decision-making processes. It investigates approaches to use the unlimitedpotentials of e-services to improve the accuracy, objectivity and quality of information and transactionsamong individuals, agencies and other societal entities.

In addition, the Symposium provides a rich platform for spreading the electronic culture and optimizingthe use of numerous e-service applications among all individuals and institutions of the society. This culturalawareness will be a basic and necessary key to reach the high e-government status targeted by theGovernment of Saudi Arabia and the Emirate of the Eastern Province.

The Symposium aims to achieve the following objectives:

- Shedding lights on new development in the field of e-Services and their technological,cultural, social and technological impacts.

- Studying the role of e-Services in improving and facilitating necessary services of citizensin both rural and urban areas.

- Calling for support to efforts of public and private institutions concerned with and heavilyinvolved in the development of e-Services.

- Investigating proper means to secure the latest technologies and facilitating their use inimproving e-services for citizens.

- Building the culture of using e-Services and improving society awareness of the benefits ofe-Services usage by governmental, public and private sectors and all citizens of the society.

- Exploring major limitations and opportunities facing the e-services field.

- Bringing together leading research experts, professionals, and vendors to explore and sharetheir knowledge and expertise in different areas of e-services, contributing to theassessment of recent efforts and propose future directions towards the development of thefield.

Prefaceتقدیم اللجنة العلمیة from the Scientific Committee



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As for the themes of the Symposium, experts from academics, government departments, andpractitioners in public and private sectors have submitted papers on the following five themes related to e-Services field:

- New technologies and their use in providing e-Services.

- Building the e-Services culture and society awareness of it (the role of media, private andgovernmental sectors and other related entities).

- E-Services information security.

- Limitations and potentials of e-Services.

- E-Services experiences and successes.

The Scientific Committee has received 81 abstracts from five countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UnitedArab Emirates, Bahrain, and Algeria). All Abstracts have been reviewed by distinguished refereesspecialized in the themes of the Symposium. Referees’ remarks were sent to participants to enhance theirwork. The review process and refinements of submitted abstracts and papers have concluded into 52participations (8 scientific research papers, 11 scientific essays, and 32 experiments). Accepted participationshave been diversified including: academic research specialists, professional practitioners, individuals, andinstitutions from private and public sectors. This indicates the spreading nature of the topics dealt with in theSymposium. Due to the exceptionally large number of participants, the Scientific Committee had to applystrict criteria to select only 48 participants to present their papers in person. The program of the Symposiumis very intensive; since it only for two full days (mornings and evenings as well). The morning sessions areallocated to the main themes while the evenings are devoted for the workshops of experiments.

This book includes all research and working papers presented in the Third eServices Symposium in theEastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The papers are presented in three forms; (1) Refereed Scientific Papers,(2) Useful Essays, and (3) Informal Presentations of experiences. Both the refereed papers and the essays arepublished in this Book after careful editing. While full versions of presentations are posted on theSymposium web site, only abstracts of the presentations are included in the book. We pray to Allah that thebook will be for the benefit of all those who are concerned with the topics of the symposium. We hope thatthis scientific gathering will help propagate and upgrade the concepts and use of eServices in the EasternProvince, in the Kingdom as a whole, and in other Arab and Muslim Countries.

Thanking Allah (SWT), the Scientific Committee wishes the best for all participants and prays to Allahto accept all efforts of other committees and individuals invested to make this Symposium successful andfruitful.

The Scientific Committee

Organizingلجان الملتقى Committees



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THE ORGANING COMMITTEES:

THE HIGHER COMMITTEE:

Secretriat Genral of the SymposiumDr Abdullah AlKadi

Chairman of eServices Technical Committee of theEastern Province

Symposium Consulting CommitteeEng. Abdullah AlArfaj

Dr. AbdulAziz Sultan AlMulhemDr. Ahmed Abdullah AlShoaibi

Symposium CoordinatorMr. Sameer A AlOfaysan

Symposium Organizing CommitteeEng. Nabeel Fahad AlMoejil Chairman

Eng. Waheed H. AlQahtani Deputy Chair.Eng. Ezzat Basheer Coordinator

Secretary: Mr. AbdulAziz Hijji




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ORGANIZING COMMITTEES:

Organizing CommitteeEng. Nabeel Fahd Al Mojil – Chairman

Eng. Waheed Hazzaa Al Qahtani - Deputy ChairmanEng. Ezzat Saad Basheer - Tech. Coordinator of e-Services

Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Hijji - Symposium Secretary

Scientific CommitteeProf. Mahmoud A Abdellatif KFU Chairman

Prof. Noubi M Hassan KSU MemberDr. Rabee M Reffat KFUPM MemberDr. Mohammed M Maatouk KAU MemberDr. Bhzad Sidawi KFU Member

Communication & AccommodationCommittee

Mr. Moohammed Abdullah Al Yabis - ChairmanMr. Homoud Mohammed Al Otabi - Member

Mr. Sami Saud Al Obaidi - MemberMr. Ali Al Haddad - Member

Mr. Osama Homoud - Member

Financial CommitteeMr. Khaled Al-Dosary - Chairman

Mr. Khaled Al-Hassan - Deputy Chairman

Technical and Registration CommitteeEng. Ezzat Saad Basheer - Chairman

Eng. Mohammed Salout - Deputy ChairmanEng. Farouq Saif - Membe

Exhibition and Sponsors CommitteeMr. Ibraheem Al-Qahtani - ChairmanEng .Moaeid Al-Barqan - Member

Eng. Ayman Moftee - MemberEng. Waheed Al-Qahtani - Member

Media CommitteeMr. ◌ٍSameer Al-Afissan – Chairman

Mr. ◌ٍAbdulLatif Al-Thuwaini – Deputy Chairman

Ladies CommitteeMrs. Badriah Al Othman - Chairman




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Theme-1التقنیات الحدیثة وكیفیة استخدامھا في تحقیق الخدمات اإللكترونیة:األوللمحور ا-١ One: Advanced Technology Use in eServices



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1-Theme One: New Technologies andtheir Use in Providing eServices

Theme-1التقنیات الحدیثة وكیفیة استخدامھا في تحقیق الخدمات اإللكترونیة:األوللمحور ا-١ One: Advanced Technology Use in eServices



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1-Theme One: New Technologies and their Use in Providing eServices

1-1 Location Based Electronic Services Dr. Abdullah H. Alkadi



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1-1 LOCATION BASED ELECTRONIC SERVICES

Dr. Abdullah H. Alkadi

Associate ProfessorCollege of Urban planning, King Faisal University, Dammam

Email: [email protected]

* This paper was presented in the symposium as a working paper; written text is notavailable. To get a copy of the presentation, see the web site.

Abstract:

In the expanding domain of electronic services, the concept of "geographic location" gained adistinguished status among other promising electronic services. This is because a geographic location isinherently digitized. It is based on longitude-latitude coordinate's character. One of the consequences ofthis concept is the automatic benefit gained by Location Based Services (LBS) from the shift intechnology to digital systems.

Based upon location based services (LBS), a new unified addressing system can be establishedwhich is extremely helpful to a wide range of civil services. It can be shown to have numerous benefits inaddition to unification of older fashion addressing schemes as used by municipalities, electric, water andtelephone companies. The most important is the full compatibility with digital services transmitted bynew communication devices like mobile phones and GPS's.

The new addressing system is to be considered as a base addressing standard irrespective of the typeof service. That is why it resolves location conflicts among competing services. It is also automaticallyprojected onto civil maps for all considered services. This is very useful for maintenance anddevelopment.

Keywords:

E-Services, Location Based Services, Civil Services, Addressing Systems.

Biography:

Dr. Abdullah Alkadi is an associate professor in the college of Architecture and Urban planning,King Faisal University Al Dammam. He is in charge of numerous official duties, some of these are:secretary general of the Society of Benevolence; Secretary General of Prince Mohammad bin Fahd prizefor charity services; General Supervisor for Prince Mohammad Projects for Affordable Housing; memberof the Supreme Committee for Geographic Information System in the Eastern Province; SecretaryGeneral of the 3rd e-Services Symposium in the Eastern Province; and Head of the Technical Committeeof the e-Services of the Eastern Province Governance. Dr. Alkadi has published numerous refereed papersand participated in many conferences and symposia in the Kingdom and abroad.

1-Theme One: New Technologies and their Use in Providing eServices1-2 A Strategic Approach for Municipal Eservices: the Case of Building Development Divisions Dr. Rabee M. Reffat



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1-2 A STRATEGIC APPROACH FOR MUNICIPAL ESERVICES: THECASE OF BUILDING DEVELOPMENT DIVISIONS

Dr. Rabee M. Reffat

Architecture Department, College of Environmental Design,King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals,

Dhahran 31261, Saudi ArabiaEmail: [email protected] & [email protected]

* This paper was presented in the symposium, then refereed and accepted for publication inthis Proceedings Book as a Scientific Research Paper in its final form as follows:

Abstract:

Municipal services for the Building Development Divisions at various places worldwide have recentlyopted for the concept of e-services. Discussions about the importance of strategic planning consistently emergein literature on e-government, innovation, and information technology implementation. With regard tomunicipal e-services this might include finding out what online services residents and businesses of themunicipality consider to be most useful. This paper introduces a strategic approach for municipal e-services ingeneral and for the Building Development Divisions in particular that aims at improving communicationsbetween the Municipality, its partners and citizens; improving learning and workplace skills; and improving theways in which the Municipality organizes and delivers its services. Such e-services might include e-PlanStatus, e-Permits, e-Inspections, e-Inspection Schedule, e-Notifications, e-Building Development and othersbased on users need within a user-centered approach. The approach introduced in this paper consists of sevenprimary components: (a) restructuring of business processes; (b) user-centered focus; (c) external partnership;(d) operation framework; (e) efficient and reliable ICT infrastructure of service delivery; (f) community oflearners; and (g) plan for progressive development of e-services. These components are sorted based on theirlogical sequence. The paper articulates these components that can be used as practical measures formunicipalities that are currently offering or planning to offer e-services for its Building Development Division.The position of e-services and its location in relation to the e-government schema is addressed. The scope of e-services in terms of nature of business and nature of participants is articulated in an interrelationship matrixformat. Furthermore, three models of delivering e-services are introduced along with the potential benefits ofdelivering effective e-services.

Keywords:

Municipal e-Services, Strategic Approach, Building Development Divisions.

Biography:

Dr. Reffat is specializing in the field of Architecture and Design Computing and currently works at theArchitecture Dept., KFUPM, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Reffat earned his PhD in Architecture and Design Computingfrom the University of Sydney, Australia. Dr. Reffat has published one edited book, three book chapters andover 50 refereed journal and conference papers. His expertise include digital design in practice and education,using artificial intelligence and machine learning, intelligent and smart buildings, knowledge management, andvirtual design studios in architecture, maintenance and construction. Dr. Reffat has successfully managed andcompleted research projects funded by Australian Research Council, University of Sydney and the CRCConstruction Innovation in Australia, and currently from KFUPM and KACST in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Reffat hasa substantial design experience in the building and construction industry and contributed in designing majorbuildings in Australia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.




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1- INTRODUCTION

The advancement of digital connectivity and the significant improvements in information technology arerevolutionizing the ways in which businesses are conducted and services are delivered. These developmentshave paved the road to both improving the quality and expanding the scope of e-government initiativesworldwide. One of the major foci of e-government initiatives is realizing the connections andinterrelationships among government, citizens, and businesses to deliver automated services (e-Services). e-Services can be viewed as Internet-based applications that fulfill service needs by seamlessly bringingtogether distributed and specialized resources to enable complex and real-time transactions. Examples of e-services include supply chain management, customer relationship management, accounting, orderprocessing, resource management and other many other services that are electronically delivered through theInternet. A common argument in the e-government literature is that the true potential of e-services initiativeswill not be achieved as long as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) tools involved inproviding these initiatives merely used by to automate existing processes provided by government agencies.Hence, in order to develop beneficial and successful e-services, government agencies may have to reevaluatetheir mission, management practices, and the way their existing tasks are carried out; let alone developing astrategic plan to achieve such a mission.

Municipal services for the Building Development Divisions at various places worldwide have recentlyopted for the concept of e-services. In the local context, the e-Government initiative of Dubai Municipalitythat aims to have maximum online clients to improve customer service, processes, and reduce costs bysaving time, money and efforts. The new services include some 42 services related to the Building LicensingSection of the civic body's Building Department in such fields as obtaining permissions for amendments tothe existing buildings, licenses for excavation works, and various other licenses. The new online servicesinclude those related to obtaining licenses for making amendments in an existing building, licenses forexcavation or foundation works, changing consultant before issuance of a building license, cancellinglicensing transaction, extending validity of approved designs, renewing building license, license for paintingworks, license for maintenance works, license for temporary fencing, reimbursing deposits, minoramendments, license for decoration works, and license for demolition of buildings.

On the other hand, discussions about the importance of strategic planning consistently emerge inliterature on e-government, innovation, and information technology implementation. With regard tomunicipal e-services this might include finding out what online services residents and businesses of themunicipality consider to be most useful. This paper introduces a strategic approach of municipal e-servicesfor the Building Development Divisions. In addition the paper addresses locating e-services with the e-government schema, scope and benefits of e-services, and models of e-services.

2- LOCATING E-SERVICES WITHIN THE E-GOVERNMENT SCHEMA

e-Government means different things for different people. Some simply define it as digital governmentalinformation or a way of engaging in digital transactions with customers. For others e-Government simplyconsists of the creation of a web site where information about political and governmental issues is presented.These narrow ways of defining and conceptualizing e-Government restrict the range of opportunities itoffers. One of the reasons why many e-Government initiatives fail is related to the narrow definition andpoor understanding of the e-Government concept, processes and functions. e-Government is amultidimensional and complex concept, which requires a broad definition and understanding, in order to beable to design and implement a successful strategy. The crucial element of various definitions of e-Government used in the literature is the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) tools toreinvent the public sector by transforming its internal and external way of doing things and itsinterrelationships with customers and the business community. The analysis of these definitions allows us toindividuate the main issues and components that characterize an e-Government framework, such as [1]:

- Transformation areas (internal, external, relational);

- Users, customers, actors and their interrelationships (citizens, businesses, governmentorganizations, employees);




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- e-Government application schema (e-services, e-democracy, e-administration).

The target of e-Government encompasses four main groups: citizens, businesses, governments (othergovernments and public agencies) and employees. The electronic transactions and interactions betweengovernment and each group constitute the e-Government web of relationships and the respective four mainblocks of e-Government, that are: Government to Citizens (G2C); Government to Business (G2B);Government to Government (G2G); and Government to Employees (G2E) [1]. Furthermore, the exploitationand implementation of complex webs of inter-relationships in e-Government requires three main applicationdomains for [2]:

- e-Administration: for automation and computerization of administrative tasks and for realization ofstrategic connections among internal processes, departments and functions.

- e-Citizens and e-Services: to realize connections and interrelationships among governments andcitizens and to deliver automated services.

- e-Society: to enable relationships and interactions beyond boundaries, among public agencies,private sector and civil community in general.

These three application domains should be considered as overlapping and e-Services can be found in theoverlapping area of these three application domains as illustrated in Figure 1, demonstrating the complexitiesand heterogeneities needed to be handled for assuring its success. Hence, e-Services applications can be seenas instruments for two-way communication between citizens and one or more governmental agencies.

Figure 1. Locating e-Services within the e-Government schema [1]

3- SCOPE AND BENEFITS OF E-SERVICES

It is suggested that it is not the resources that a firm has, but the services that those resources render thatare of value [3]. e-Services offer the opportunity to electronically outsource non-core IT functions withoutthe traditional lock-ins and coordination overhead involved in outsourcing systems and electronic services. Ifthe transformation of software into service is indeed occurring, information systems development approachesmust resemble the processes used by service firms more than product firms. In service industries, “customersdon’t buy products or services. They buy results [4].” The quality of the processes for delivering those resultsis of critical import in sustaining their competitiveness their and eventual success. The scope of e-servicescan be classified according to the nature of business activity and the nature of participants. The nature ofparticipants includes: business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to business (B2B), and consumer-to-consumer(C2C). The nature of business activity includes: physical, digital and pure service. Figure 2 illustrates amatrix classification of both the nature of business activity and the nature of participants. An articulation ofthe scope of e-Services with examples explaining the matrix relationships is as follows [5].

Physical: The primary product-process supported by the e-service is a physical good, and the service itself isconcerned with its assembly, design, aggregation, or delivery. For example, FedEx’s packagetracking services (B2C) focus on package delivery and tracking, Dell’s supply chain managementservices focus on aggregating parts and components from across its suppliers on the back end (B2B)




5

and managing their delivery to customers on the front end (B2C), and eBay’s auction servicemanages transactions of physical goods (and occasionally purely digital goods) among buyers andsellers (C2C).

Digital: The primary end product delivered by the eservice is a digital information product. Such products areassembled digital goods that exist primarily in electronic form. Examples of such services includeBeyond.com’s aggregation of purchasable and electronically delivered software published byhundreds of different software publishers (B2C), services such as Employease that help businessesbuild payroll records for their employees (B2B), and services such as Napster and Gnutella.com thatfacilitate consumer-to-consumer trade of digitized information products (C2C).

Pure Service: The end product for some services is neither a packaged information product nor a physical artifact.These are pure services in the true sense of the word. E*Trade, and Amazon.com’s customer interestprofiler, RebateCentral’s rebate tracker are examples of such e-services in the B2C arena. In the B2Barena, application service providers and Web-delivered ERP services exemplify these services; andThirdvoice.com’s C2C distributed real-time discussion system exemplifies these in the C2C context

These distinctions are not always very clear. In many cases an input might be digital but the outputmight be physical. A case in point is OfficeMax’s NowDocs eservice that allows customers to upload digitaldocuments that the company prints, binds, and ships according to the options selected by the customer.Similarly, some of these e-services might be simultaneously classified in more than one category. Acomplementary way of classifying such services is mapping them in a three-dimensional space according tothe relative proportion of physical and electronic components in them. This way, the physical-digitalcharacteristic can be treated as a continuum rather than a collection of discrete states. Once such services aremapped accordingly, clusters of similar services can help determine their design, fulfillment, and deliverysimilarities [5].

Figure 2. The Scope of e-Services in a matrix classification of both nature of participants (B2C (Business toCustomer); B2B (Business to Business); and C2C (Customer to Customer)), and nature of business activity

(Physical, digital, and pure service) [5].

The potential benefits of e-Services include providing opportunities for economic development andplaying a critical role in rapid economic change, productive capacity improvements and business




6

competitiveness. e-Services support core business processes such as supply chain management, coordination,inventory management, purchasing, call center management, distribution, work flow management, and orderfulfillment functions is clear. e-Services attempt to offer various capabilities with flexibility, adaptability,and cost-effectiveness. They also support linkages across multitudinous stakeholders (suppliers, vendors,retailers) within the firm’s business web [6] without the traditional lock-ins that are associated with largeinvestments in specialized, custom developed information systems. The modular nature of e-Servicesfacilitates alliance formation, transactional switching, and delivery of adaptable, flexible, and scalable, end-to-end technology architectures for client businesses [7]. Benefits of e-Services that can be reaped by itsusers include: (a) Quality of service delivery to businesses and customers; (b) Transparency, anticorruption,accountability; (c) Improve the quality of decision making; and (d) Promote use of ICT in other sectors ofthe society. Putting services on-line substantially decreases the processing costs of many activities comparedwith the manual way of handling operations. For example, it costs the US Inland Revenue Service $1.60 toprocess a paper tax form, but only $0.40 to process an electronic form [8]. The appropriate application of e-Services may possibly reduce the number of inefficiencies in processes by allowing file and data sharingacross government departments, thereby contributing to the elimination of mistakes from manual procedures,reducing the required time for transactions. Efficiency is also attained by streamlining internal processes, byenabling faster and more informed decision making, and by speeding up transaction processing. For instance,in Beijing’s Business e-Park, the latest computer and Internet technologies are applied to improve theefficiency and responsiveness of government. If businesses choose to use this system, they can reduce thetime required for gaining approval for specific applications from 2-3 months to few days [9].

4- MODELS OF eSERVICES

There are various models of e-Services for which it is strategically important to realize their differencesand select the most appropriate model that suits specific services planned to be launched electronically.Herein, some of the most common models are introduced; namely the Generic Exchange Model (GEM), thecommunication model of public e-Services, and the functional access point e-Services respectively.

4-1 The Generic Exchange Model

The generic exchange model describes the business interaction between customers and suppliers. Abusiness transaction can be divided into four generic phases: proposal phase, commitment (contract) phase,fulfillment phase, and assessment phase as graphically illustrated in Figure 3. The business transaction is adyadic interaction between one customer and one supplier. This is related to market interaction with severalcustomers and several suppliers. The business interaction consists of social actions of different characters. Inthe generic exchange model context is generalized to cover both commercial and governmental settings,generic actions of the inter-actors in the different phases are explicitly stated, and infrastructure elements areintegrated [10].

4-2 The Communication Model of Public e-Services

An e-service application is encountered by the citizen through a user interface. A communication modelof public e-services is illustrated in Figure 4. This model is part of the practical theory on informationsystems actability. In information systems actability theory, information systems are seen as instruments fortechnology mediated work communication. Communication is performed through a user interface, whichthus is conceived to be an action and communication medium. A user interface consists of differentcommunication parts. A user interface contains some descriptions of what action possibilities there areavailable. Sometimes, such action possibilities

may be implicit and even concealed. An e-service application consists usually of possibilities for acitizen to read information (i.e. to get information from a governmental agency) and to submit something tothe agency. Communication between citizens and a governmental agency is afforded by an e-serviceapplication. The action repertoire of the e-Services applications is their communicative affordances.Different types of actions may be performed through e-Services applications; for example a citizen applyingfor child care, a municipality offers a place on a day nursery, a citizen accepting or declining such an offer.Such communicative actions are performance-based in their functions [10].




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Figure 3. The generic exchange model of e-Services [10].

Figure 4. The communication model of public e-Services [10].

4-3 The Functional Development Model

Lane & Lee [11] have proposed a functional development model that can be utilized for e-Services andincludes four stages: cataloguing, transaction, vertical integration, and horizontal integration as shown inFigure 5. Each subsequent stage represents a higher level of complexity and integration of e-Services. Thefunctional development model that can be successfully adopted for e-Services is the one that attempts toachieve complete integration and sophisticated technological and organizational complexity; that is the upperright corner in the graph shown in Figure 5.




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Figure 5. Functional Development Model that can be adopted for e-Services [11].

5- A STRATEGIC APPROACH OF MUNICIPAL ESERVICES FOR BUILDING DEVELOPMENTDIVISION

In the traditional model of public service delivery, the procedures are long, time consuming and lacktransparency. A business that wishes to obtain a license or a permit for building development has to fill out anumber of application forms, has to visit a number of different offices and spend a considerable amount oftime. If a citizen wishes to be issued with a certificate or any other official document, he or she will have totravel to the central government office, go to different offices and spend a lot of time for a simple service.The consequences are high costs and citizen and business dissatisfaction. The e-Services initiative putsgovernment services online, thereby reducing the bureaucracy, offers around the clock accessibility, fast andconvenient transactions, and obviously enhances the quality of services, in terms of time, content andaccessibility. For small municipalities especially, the planning stages of e-Services may amount to triage; i.e.which specific municipal functions and services can a municipality afford to implement (or which servicescan they afford not to implement) given the costs of technology and technological competence. In order tomake informed decisions, municipalities can and should establish, develop, and/or adopt a strategic approachfor their e-Services. In such approach municipalities should go beyond simply posting information. Theyshould create an interactive mechanism so citizens are able to complete transactions online that are calledtransactional services. Examples range from single exchanges, such as paying a parking ticket online, to amore complex series of exchanges, such as an appeal of a property tax assessment. The challenges includeovercoming cultural barriers, enabling seamless service by ensuring departments are able to workcollaboratively to integrate services, and protecting personal privacy online. Cultural change does not occureasily or rapidly. Municipalities must take steps to ensure that their citizens are willing and able to use thetechnology. The overall strategy for content selection should be developed up front. It should reflect a corporateperspective, and it should be anchored in a clear awareness of the concerns and needs of citizens.

Strategic planning involves setting organizational goals and objectives and developing strategies forachieving them. An important purpose of strategic planning is also to determine the needs of customers andto develop approaches for meeting these needs in the most effective and efficient way. With regard tomunicipal e-Services this would mean finding out what online services residents and businesses of the




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municipality consider to be most useful. One of the best mechanisms of doing this, most often emphasized inthe literature, is to conduct citizen surveys. Strategic planning is directly linked to business processreengineering. A major goal of reengineering is to overcome an approach to ICT implementation known astechnological determinism. Technological determinism occurs when government agencies merely automatetheir existing processes with an expectation that this alone would lead to cost savings and increasedefficiency. Most importantly and in order to develop a functional e-Services, agencies may have toreevaluate their mission, management practices, and the way their existing tasks are carried out. The resultsof reengineering include, among others, change in the number and role of staff, increased efficiency,reduction in operating costs.

The strategic approach proposed herein is substantially developed by the author based on the e-Servicesstrategy summary statement of the city of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, UK [13]. The primaryobjectives of proposed strategic approach include: improving communications between the Municipality, itspartners and citizens; improving learning and workplace skills; and improving the ways in which theMunicipality organizes and delivers its services. The delivery of these objectives requires a radical approachthat demands strategic co-ordination at the highest levels and close working relationships with all parties.The components and their sequence of the proposed strategic approach for delivering effective e-Services ingeneral and for Building development Divisions in particular are depicted in Figure 6 and include: (a)

restructuring of business processes; (b) user-centered focus; (c) external partnership; (d) operationframework; (e) efficient and reliable ICT infrastructure of service delivery; (f) community of learners; and(g) plan for progressive development of e-services. These components are sorted based on their logicalsequence and articulated as follows:

Figure 6. Components and their sequence of the proposed strategic approach for delivering effective e-Servicesin general and for Building development Divisions in particular [source: Author]

ICTInfrastructure

OperationFramework

ExternalPartnership

User-centeredFocus

Restructuringof BusinessProcesses

Communityof Learners

ProgressiveDevelopment

A StrategicApproach

toMunicipale-Services




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(a) Restructuring of Business Processes: Restructuring of Business Processes is a key to achieving the bestbusiness advantage for the Municipality. The restructuring involves reevaluating Municipality’s mission,management practices, and the way its existing tasks are carried out. The results of restructuring andreengineering include, among others, change in the number and role of staff, increased efficiency, reduction inoperating costs

(b) User-centered Focus: Citizens increasingly want more choice in the way they receive access to services frompublic sector organizations. In response, the Municipality should contribute to the development and delivery ofpublic services around the needs of the citizen, with equality achieved through investment in libraries and keymunicipal buildings, providing training, free computer use, broadband connection and telephone access. Allaccess channels should be supported by a fully integrated corporate CRM solution. A user-centered focusrequires identifying online services for residents and businesses of the municipality that they consider to bemost useful. This can be conducting through citizens and businesses surveys. For instance, examples of e-services that are required to be offered by the Building Development Division at Prince William CountyGovernment, Virginia, USA are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Examples of e-services that are required to be offered by the Building Development Division at PrinceWilliam County Government, Virginia, USA [14].

ePlanStatuswww.pwcgov.org/ePlanStatus

Find your Plan Review Status

View comment letters & approvals

Find out when your plans and permits are readyfor pick-up and what you need to bring whenpicking them up

ePermitswww.pwcgov.org/ePermits

Apply for Residential Trade permits online(requires qualified trade license)

Pay for permits(via electronic checking payment system)

Print out your permits from your computer

eInspectionswww.pwcgov.org/eInspections

Schedule, reschedule & cancel inspections

View inspection status, results and comments

Find your unpaid fee amount

eInspectionSchedulewww.pwcgov.org/eInspectionSchedule

Find the order in which your inspector willget to you

Find out who your inspector is

Confirm which inspections your inspectorhas completed

eNotificationswww.pwcgov.org/eNotifications

Sign up to receive electronic notification ofchanges to building permitting rules andregulations (choose Building Permit RegulationUpdate Notifications)

eBuildingDevelopmentFormswww.pwcgov.org/eBuildingDevelopmentForms

Easy access to all Building Developmentforms

Fill in and print out forms before submittingthem(all forms are in fillable PDF format)

(c) External Partnership: The need for effective external partnerships is essential for a successfulimplementation of the strategic approach through joint commissioning and delivery of services andperformance management. This should help in providing a clear view of how ICT will play an important partin the development and implementation of e-Services and identifying the most appropriate e-Services model tobe adopted.

(d) Operation Framework: The operation framework should provide an integrated and agile ICT service to meetthe needs of users and the modern technical architecture. The result of an assessment of current businesssituation, circumstances and readiness to adopt e-Services should be taken into consideration while developingthe operation framework. Development of the operation framework outlines the prioritization of ICTinvestment, and provides a gateway style challenge on all major projects and programs.




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(e) Efficient and reliable ICT Infrastructure of Service Delivery: The establishment of ICT infrastructure andsupported systems must drive out efficiencies and benefits, ensure quality and timeliness of information, andstreamline or remove processes. The upgrade of key e-Services systems is quite crucial for achieving efficientservice delivery. The ICT infrastructure and its supporting systems need to set the foundations for self service,which will allow the management to reap increased efficiency through empowering managers, staff andcitizens to access all information, systems and training anytime and from anywhere.

(f) Community of Learners: The provision of training and investment in staff, members and citizens should be amajor strategic goal of the Municipality and necessary to realize the benefits from introducing newtechnologies. Through e-learning developments on Municipality’s Intranet, increasing staff percentagereceiving comprehensive training in a proactive, innovative and cost efficient manner will pave the road for acommunity of learners.

(g) Plan for Progressive Development of e-Services: As a first step towards progressive development of e-Services, the implementation of above components of the proposed strategic approach should be fullydocumented, along with a structure in place to manage standards, interoperability, and future change. Closecollaboration with external partners (component (c) above), to provide external challenge on the technologiesused and advise on how they should be installed and configured, acting as a critical-supporter in evaluatingcurrent and future needs. Compatibility and stable integration is an important key to the speed of joint workingwithin the Municipality and with external partners.

6- Conclusion

The e-Services initiative puts government services online, thereby reducing the bureaucracy, offersaround the clock accessibility, fast and convenient transactions, and obviously enhances the quality ofservices, in terms of time, content and accessibility. In order to make informed decisions, municipalities canand should establish, develop, and/or adopt a strategic approach for their e-Services. Strategic planninginvolves setting organizational goals and objectives and developing strategies for achieving them. Animportant purpose of strategic planning is also to determine the needs of customers and to developapproaches for meeting these needs in the most effective and efficient way.

This paper introduced a strategic approach for Municipal e-Services in general and BuildingDevelopment Divisions in particular that aims at improving communications between the Municipality, itspartners and citizens; improving learning and workplace skills; and improving the ways in which theMunicipality organizes and delivers its services. The strategic approach introduced in this paper consists ofseven primary components: (a) restructuring of business processes; (b) user-centered focus; (c) externalpartnership; (d) operation framework; (e) efficient and reliable ICT infrastructure of service delivery; (f)community of learners; and (g) plan for progressive development of e-services. The paper articulated thesecomponents that can be used as practical measures for municipalities that are currently offering or planningto offer e-services for its Building Development Division. Such e-services might include e-Plan Status, e-Permits, e-Inspections, e-Inspection Schedule, e-Notifications, e-Building Development and others based onusers need within a user-centered approach.

7- REFERENCES

[1] Ndou, V. (2004), “E-Government for developing countries: opportunities and challenges”, The Electronic Journal onInformation Systems in Developing Countries, 18, 1, 1-24.

[2] Heeks, R. (2001), “Understanding e-Governance for Development”, i-Government Working Papers,http://idpm.ac.uk/wp/igov_wp11.htm

[3] Penrose, E. (1959), “The Theory of the Growth of the Firm”, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

[4] Heskett, J., Sasser, W. and Schlesinger, L. (1997), “The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growthto Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value”, The Free Press, New York.

[5] Tiwana, A. and Ramesh, B. (2001), “e-Services: Problems, Opportunities, and Digital Platforms”, Proceedings of the 34th

Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[6] D. Tapscott, D. Ticoll, and A. Lowy, (2000), “Digital Capital: Harnessing the Power of Business Webs”, Harvard BusinessSchool Press, Boston.

[7] Seybold, P. (1999), “Preparing for the e-Services Revolution”, Patricia Seybold Group, Boston Customers.com Report, April30, 1999.

[8] Al-Kibsi, G., De Boer, K., Mourshed, M. and Rea, P.R. (2001), “Putting Citizens Online, Not In- line”, The McKinseyQuarterly, 2, http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.asp?tk=:1004:&articlenum=1004.




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[9] [9] Lin, M., Zhu, R. and Hachigian, N. (2001), “Beijing's Business E-Park”, World Bank,http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/zhongguancun_cs.htm

[10] [10] Goldkuhl, G. (2007), “What does it mean to service the citizen in e-services?”, International Journal of PublicInformation Systems, vol 2007:3, pp. 135-159.

[11] [11] Lane, K. and Lee, J. (2001), “Developing fully functional e-government: A four stage model”, Government informationquarterly, 18: 122-136.

[12] [12] Pavlichev, A. (2004), “The effects of internal characteristics of municipal government agencies and environmentalfactors of municipalities on the scope and quality of municipal e-government initiatives: developing an integrated approach”,PhD Thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA.

[13] [13] Jones, A. “e-Services strategy summary statement of the city of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council”,http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/Policy/eServices/default.htm

[14] [14] Building Development Division eServices, “Building Development Division at Prince William County Government”,Virginia, USA, http://www.pwcgov.org/default.aspx?topic=010064999990001696


1-3 Radio Frequency Identification (Rfid) for Automating Business Processes Eng. Mahmod S. Al-Muhamed



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1-3 RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) FOR AUTOMATINGBUSINESS PROCESSES

Eng. Mahmod S. Al-Muhamed

Communications EngineerCommunications Engineer & Technical Support Department

(CE&TSD, Saudi Aramco)[email protected]


Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to provide a brief explanation of RFID technologies, potential applicationsand some of RFID case studies. It explains two types namely: Passive and Active technologies, theirdefinitions, RFID components and Architecture Design. Furthermore, it demonstrates the ISO 18000standards, EPC standards, RFID based on 802.11 standards, frequency, Read Range, Data Rate and otherrelated technical issues. The paper uses a case study of business developing stage to explain the RFIDproject life cycle from planning, design, test up to the maintenance and support. Additionally, the paperfocuses on global potential applications and provides marketing analysis for a variety of RFIDtechnologies and demonstrates a number of business cases. Finally, the paper highlights potentialapplications of RFID technologies at Saudi Aramco, types of RFID technologies that would be used andthe expected RFID Architecture Design at Saudi Aramco.

Keywords:

RFID, Active Tag, Passive Tag , ISO 18000.

Biography:

Mr Al-Muhamed graduated from King Fahd University of Petroleum& Minerals (KFUPM) as acomputer engineer in 1999. He joined Saudi Aramco, Communication Engineering& Technical SupportDepartment (CE&TSD) in 2000. During my worker on communications services, he was assigned todevelop technical specifications for wireless data equipments for the next five years. Thus, he waspromoted to a Project leader that is responsible for the deployment of around 2000 internal access pointsand 140 external access across the company.

He was appointed to develop a Wireless Services& Mobile Computing Infrastructure Roadmap forSaudi Aramco. The roadmap consists of an analysis of the excising mobility infrastructure, businessdrivers, target services, future mobility architecture and recommended technologies such as RFID, WIFI,WiMax and 3G. It suggests new communication services to Saudi Aramco which would resolve a numberof exiting wireless problems.

Mr Al-Muhamed has taken the responsibility to pilot RFID project for assets management of themedical department and the automation of the warehouses business processes. The potential workincludes the initiation of voice technology over WLAN with possible integration of the wirelessinfrastructure with telephone switching system.





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1. INTRODUCTION:

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) contributes directly on improving business processes byautomating identity and data capture on any object. RIFD is able to reduce error rate, enhance businessprocesses life-cycle and provide real time tracking for any items that can be tagged. Recently, the industryintroduced RFID applications and solutions that suite variety of business requirements. Asset management isone of the major RFID applications deployed for warehouses, medical institutes and enterprises. Thedevelopment on RFID solutions has moved beyond assets management. It started penetrating into otherbusiness applications. Companies and enterprises deploy RFID technologies for various access control,postal identification, airlines baggage screening, animal tracking and admissions ticketing. RFID requiresextensive efforts during the development and implementation phases. Moreover, RFID technology selectionstage is the most critical stage during design phase. After successful RFID deployment, business andoperation sectors will realize immediate business benefit and proven Return on Investment (ROI).

2- RFID FUNCTIONALITY & TECHNOLOGIES

The definition of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is to capture the identity of objectsautomatically using radio waves and transfer the information wirelessly to back-end applications. The RFIDsystem includes tags, readers, antennas, middleware and other peripherals as illustrated in Figure (3.1).

Figure (3.1): RFID Architecture Components

The industry has divided RFID technologies to three major concepts based on the power source asfollows: 1) Passive, 2) Semi-passive, and 3) Active. Each of these technologies uses different standards,frequencies, data rates, power consumption and sizes.

2-1 RFID Tags (Transponder):

RFID tag (Transponder) is located on the objects for identification and to store specific data related tothe object. Tag is composed of chip (Integrated Circuit), antenna and power source as details below:

Tag Antenna: it receives the signals from the reader and radiates a response back to the reader.





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Power Source: Tags require power to communicate with readers. Tags can obtain this power fromelectromagnetic waves released by readers or from a built-in battery. The tag’s power requirements dependon different factors, which are: operating distance between the tag and the reader, the radio frequency usedand tag functionality. Based on the power source, tags are categorized as follows:

Passive: This type draws power from the reader device that sends out electromagnetic waves,Figure (3.2).

Figure (3.2): Passive RFID Tags

Active: Power source is provided through a battery that is used to run the microchip circuit insidethe tag which broadcast the signals to the RFID readers, Figure (3.3).

Figure (3.3): Active RFID Tags

Semi-Passive: It includes a battery to run the microchip circuit but communicate by drawingpower from the reader. This design reduces time for tag to response and can increase its read range.

2-2 RFID READER (Interrogators):

RFID Reader or interrogator provides radios signals and receive signals from the tag in order for readerto read and write to the tag. Reader consists of:

Receiver (amplifier and demodulator) Transmitter (Modulator and Power amplifier) Oscillator Controller/processor

The industry supplies market with multiple types of RFID reader, starting from Fixed, Mobile, Handheldup to PCMCIA Readers, in order to meet business needs and operations requirements, Figure (3.4).

Figure (3.4): RFID Reader Types





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2-3 RFID FREQUENCIES:

RFID system operates at different frequency bands based on the functionally and applicationrequirements as summarize on the below Table (3.1):

Table (3.1): Passive and Active Technologies Summarization

Low Frequency(LF)

High Frequency(HF)

Ultra HighFrequency

(UHF)Microwave

Frequency Range<135 KHz

13.56 MHzPassive: 860-930

MHzActive: 433 MHz

2.4GHz

StandardsISO 18000-2

ISO 14443ISO 15693

ISO 18000-3

Passive:Auto-ID Class 0Auto-ID Class 1EPCglobal Gen 2

ISO 18000-6Active:18000-7

ISO 802.11ISO 18000-4

Data CapacityLow data capacityfrom 64 bits to 2k

bitsFrom 512 bits to 8k bits

From 32 bits to 4kbits

From 128 bits to32kbit

Read-writeCapability

Read-only orread/write tags

Both read-only or read /write tags

Both read-only orread / write tags

Read-only or read/ write tags

Data transferLow data transfer less

than 1 kbits/s25kbps 28kbps up to 1 Mbps

Time to Read0.5 second quite

slow!0.002 second 0.002 second 0.3 second

RangePassive: 0.5mActive : 2m

Passive: 1.2mPassive: 2-5mActive: 100m

Passive: 2-5mActive: 30m

Power Source

Inductive coupling(Near field)

de variety of tagforms

Inductive coupling(Magnetic or Near

field)Backscatter

(Electric or Far field)

Backscatter(Electric or Far

field)

SomeApplications

Manufacturing Largevehicle ContainerAccess Control,

Animal

Airline baggage,LibraryLaundry

Asset trackingSupply Chain

Logistics.

Vehicles, Factory,Access control,

Road tolling

3- RFID TECHNOLOGY SELECTION & DESIGN:

The RFID implementation is more than just establishing potential locations of RFID reader and antenna.It requires assessment and analysis of business process, integrates components to network infrastructure andenvironmental influence that may affect the implementation. The deployment of RFID requires forming ateam, which consist of business subject matters experts, applications developers and communicationsengineers. The team should work together in all stages. The RFID deployment, which consists of thefollowing stages:

Business Processes Analysis: to establish a baseline by identifying and analyzing the current businessprocess called “As-Is”. The result of the analysis will be used to optimize the business processes byeliminating non-added value tasks and redesign the business processes called “To-Be”.

Site Survey: to collect info on RF interference, environmental issues, network infrastructure, physicallocation of the RFID devices and power.

Technology Selection: to identify the RFID functionally, frequency selection, RFID tags type (passive,active), data rate, read range, RFID protocol, standards, middleware selection, centralize management and





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RFID network security. This stage is considered as the most important and critical stage from the wholelifecycle of the RFID deployment.

Implementation: to integrate middleware to existing applications, install RFID devices, connectdevices to networks and perform equipment configurations. At this stage the difficult decisions has beenmade.

Test: to define success factors that indicate the expected result is achieved by performing different testscenarios starting by testing the readers’ connectivity, tag reach by the readers, middleware ability to filtertags, applications receive tags’ details.

Maintenance: RFID devices require continues by through centralized management system formonitoring, IOS updates and new features deployment.

3.1 Design Scenarios

The deployment of RFID functionalities will follow the lifecycle, explained in section 4.1, but eachstage will be different depending on the operations nature. The following design scenarios were selected assamples:

Warehouses Design: RFID system is deployed at warehouses for assets management. This functionalitycan be achieved by a collection of RFID technologies such as passive UHF and active tags. Additionally, theprotocols can be different based on the standards, for instance, the deployment might have Gan2 standardand using Wi-Fi coverage for active tag based on 802.11 standards.

Healthcare Design: RFID technology is deployed in medical institute to mange medical assets throughReal Time Location System (RTLS) based on Wi-Fi (802.11) standard. Whereas, the Passive technology isdeployed to track blood- samples using High Frequency (HF). Moreover, the format and the characteristicsof a tag can be customized based on the objects, size and data capacity

3.2 Deployment concerns & Recommendation

RIFD technologies deployments can be deployed across the enterprises such as healthcare, logistics,manufacturing and retailers. Therefore, some of the concerns have been addressed to be considered duringthe selection of RFID systems and technologies, Figure 4.3:

RFID Middleware: to integrate RIFD components to the network, offer development tools, handle datamovement from readers to applications and perform data filtering and aggregation.

Management: to manage RFID components though cartelize application for real-time monitoring,operating system update, configuration and events reporting.

Flexibility: to support verity of standards and protocols, support new tags formats and ability to addcustom logic to extend functionality.

4- RFID APPLICATIONS AND MARKET STATISTICS

Today, RFID applications and solutions effect the whole business environments by increasingproductivity, improving security, preventing errors, automating data collections and object identity andachieving compliance.

4-1 RFID Market ANALYSiS and forecast

The RFID market is promising and the projections for RFID business grows strongly from $2.8 billionin 2006 to $26 billion in 2016 and the market will rise to $27.88 Billion in 2017. The number of RFID tagshas been sold for last 60 years is 3.752 billion, 27% of that number were sold in 2006 as listed in Table (4.3)and 19% in 2005. In 2007, IDTechEx expect 1.71 billion tags will be sold and total RFID market value(including all hardware, systems, integration etc) across all countries will be $4.96 Billion. In 2008 6.8billion tags will be sold for baggage, animals, books, tickets and other non retail markets and 15.3 billiontags for pallets/cases. RFID interrogators will reach $1.14 billion in 2008 for EPC interrogators and $0.75billion in the same year for other interrogators, such as Near Field Communication interrogators.





18

Table (5.1): RFID Applications in 2006, number of tags and total value ($)

Application

Number oftags supplied

in2006(Millions)

Value of spendon tags (USD $

Millions)Main frequency Highlights

Drugs 15 3.5 A few KHZ Error prevention

Other healthcare 10 5.1 HF, UHF, 2.45GHzEquipment,documents

Retail apparel 50 10 UHF, HF Retailer

Consumer goods 10 2.5 HF, UHF DVDs, Watches,

tires 0.1 0.1 UHF

postal 0.5 0.3 433MHz

Books 50 17.3 HFBooks, Videos,DVDs, libraries

Manufacturing parts, Tools 10 4 LF, HF

Archiving(documents, samples) 8 2.6 HF Test tubes

Military 10 200 433MHz, UHF Assets, Vehicles

Pallet, Case 200 34 UHFMeeting retail

mandates

Smart cards/payment key fobs 350 770 HF Access IDs Cards

smart tickets 65 13 HF Transportation,access

air baggage 25 5 UHF

Conveyances/rollcages/ULD/totes 10 10433MHz, UHF, HF,

2.45GHzContainer ports,

trolleys

Animals 70 140 LF

Vehicles 2.5 23.8 433MHz, 2.45GHz Road tolling

People 0.5 9.5433MHz, 2.45GHz,

UWBSecurity, People

Management

car clickers 46 46 433MHz Car remote clicker

Passport page/secure documents 25 100 HFMeeting international

mandates

laundry LF,HF Hospital, hotel

Leisure LF, HF

Other tag application 65 87.1

Total 1022.6 1484

4-2 RFID Case studies & Applications

The RFID case studies reach more than 3000 case studies’ world-wide in 2007 at different RFIDsolutions comparing with 2000 cases in 2006 according to the IDTechEx knowledgebase. IDTechEx believesthat “there are about 10,000 cases of RFID in action, but IDTechEx is not in the business of listing all ofthem. The number of new cases is increasing rapidly, with IDTechEx analyzing and recording about 60 permonth”.

Top 10 Countries: IDTechEx includes RIFD case studies from the whole contraries. USA is in the leadposition on developing the case studies since the establishment of IDTechEx. USA provides around 1002 upto today, as illustrated in Figure (5.1).

RFID Application Classifications: RFID solution has been classified to thirteen (13) categoriesaccording to IDTechEx knowledgebase as listed in Table (5.2), where the top ten (10) RFID applications ofthese categories has been illustrated in Figure (5.2).





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Top 10 Countries RFID Case Studies 2005-2007

* Sources IDTechEx

0200400600800

10001200

UnitedStates

UnitedKingd

om

China

German

y

Japa

n

Franc

e

Aus

tralia

Nethe

rland

s

Can

ada

Korea

Italy

Countries

Num

berofRFID

Cases

2007

2006

2005

Figure (5.1): Top 10 Countries Submitted RFID Case Studies

Table (5.2): RFID applications Classifications

Applications # of Case Studies

Airlines and Airports 109

Animals and Farming 131

Books, Libraries, Archiving 107

Financial, Security, Safety 564

Healthcare 266

Land and Sea Logistics, Postal 322

Laundry 13

Leisure, Sports 389

Manufacturing 199

Military 77

Passenger Transport, Automotive 405

Retail, Consumer Goods 499

Other 7

Total 3088

Top RFID Applications

37107

400

36112 90

642

23

430

71

328

24 54

261

0100200300400500600700

Air

Baggage

Anim

als

Card

(inc.key

Clic

ker/

imm

obili

s

Conveyance

Inte

rmodal

Item

level

Oth

er

Palle

t/case

Passport

People

Phone

Tic

ket

Vehic

le

Applications

#o

fC

ase

Stu

die

s

Case Studies

Figure (5.2): Top Ten (10) RFID Applications





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4-3 RDIF case studies samples

The purpose of RFID business case to recognize feasibility of RFID deployment, identify businessopportunities, assesses the risks and to structure and implement a strategy for change that clearly identifies asympathetic return on investment (ROI). Appropriately applied RFID can significantly influence the primaryadded-value objectives of business activity including:

Increased revenues and enhanced internal cost reductions through product and processimprovements, innovation and enhanced services.

Enhanced competitiveness through more efficient and effective processes, communications, qualityand customer care.

Enhanced management and safety of people. Enhanced asset management and maintenance.

Based on the above statistics and benefit, the below case studies were selected as samples:

4-3-1 Enhance Airlines Services (McCarran Intl. Airport):

According to IATA, the airline trade association, enthuses, "In the next few years the air industry will betagging an ever higher proportion of its two billion bags yearly and it will use RFID in other newapplications as well."

(a) Issues:

i. Extensive time check-in and go through security

ii. Un-reliable process to ensure passenger-bag matching

(b) Solution:

i. RFID-enabled security cards w/ biometric authentication processes

ii. Readers that authenticate traveler at check-in, security & boarding

iii. Tag on luggage for passenger identification

(c) Result:

i. Better security

ii. Improved speed & efficiency of checking & boarding

4-3-2 Enhance inventory management (Boeing) :

Assets management is part of any indusial or services organizations day to day activities. RFID will easethe inventory management for expensive and non expansive items. RFID will be able to provide Real-Timetacking and automate the process of assets move between sits, figure (5.2).

(a) Issue

i. Labor/time intensive inventory process

ii. Errors causing sunk costs and lost & aged products

(b) Solution

i. RFID at dock doors, conveyers & forklifts

ii. Location visibility with RFID tags on the floor

(c) Results

i. Processing time reduced 2x-60x for shipping, receiving and verification

ii. Potential 20% operational savings in DC





21

Figure (5.1): Mccarran Intl. Airport’s RFID baggage screening

Figure (5.2): Boeing’s RFID Assets management





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5. RFID AT SAUDI ARAMCO

RFID technologies have been introduced to Saudi Aramco in order to enhance supply chainmanagement business processes, improve access control and increase assets the utilization and control.

5.1 RFID High level Design & Projects status

Saudi Aramco requires multiple RFID technologies to be deployed based on the business needs andoperation requirements. The RFID design consist of middleware, passive RFID readers (Mobile & Fixed),passive tags and active tags as illustrated in Figure (6.1).

Project under exestuation: Saudi Aramco deploys RFID system for access control

Projects Under evaluations: Saudi Aramco is evaluating RFID UHF tags at warehouses usingRFID. Moreover, Saudi Aramco is evaluating active tag to provide Real-Time at medical forassets management.

Potential Applications: the major RFID potential application will be at plants, assetsmanagement across the company and access control.

Figure (6.1): RFID High Level Design at Saudi Aramco

6. REFERENCES

[1] Active RFID and Sensor Networks (IDTechEX, 2006)

[2] Active RFID Attracts More Big Money (IDTechEX, 2006)

[3] A Basic Introducation to RFID technology and Its use in the supply chain

[4] Applications & Case Studies (Symbol, 2006)

[5] Better Asset Management with RFID (Leanne Smullen, 2006)

[6] Defining RFID: A review of RFID Forecasts (IDTechEX, 2005)

[7] EPCglobal Tag Data Standards Version 1.3 (EPCgolobal, 2006)

[8] EPC Value Model for Healthcare & life sciences (EPCgolbal, 2005)

[9] EPCgolbal calss1 Gen 2 RFID specifications (Aline, 2005)

[10] Item level RFID - the prosperous market 2006-2016 (IDTechEX, 2006)





23

[11] ISO – RFID STANDARDS For Item Management (Don Ferguson, President Lyngsoe Systems, Canada, 2006]

[12] ISO/IEC 18000-2 (ISO, 2004)

[13] ISO/IEC 18000-1(ISO, 2004)

[14] RFID in Actions (IDTechEX, 2006)

[15] RFID Use Cases For Government (Symbol, 2006)

[16] RFID A basic primer (AIM international, Inc, 1998)

[17] RFID Cost Tutorial (EPCglobal)

[18] RFID Is Set to Redefine Industry Processes (Gartner, 2005)

[19] RFID market to reach $7.26Bn in 2008 (IDTechEX, 2005)

[20] RFID in 2006: A story of extremes (IDTechEX, 2006)

[21] RFID Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2007-2017 (IDTechEX, 2006)

[22] RFID Market $2.77Bn in 2006 to $12.35Bn in 2010 (IDTechEX, 2006)

[23] Real Time Locating Systems 2006-2016 (IDTechEX, 2006)

[24] RFID in the Air Industry and Land Transport (IDTechEX, 2006)

[25] RFID Systems and Operating Principles (Vlad Krotov, University of Houston, 2005)

[26] Performance of EPC Gen 2 in the Real World (Daniel Deavours, Research Director, RFID Alliance Lab, 2006)

[27] The myth and reality of baggage tagging (IDTechEX, 2006)

[28] Technology Guide (Auto-ID center)

[29] Specification for RFID Air Interface (EPCgolobal, 2005)

[30] Smart labeling Concept & Applications for the Consumer Packaged goods ( Supply Chain: Kleist , R. A., T. A., Chapman, D.A. Sakai, B. S. Jarvis, 2005)

[31] UHF EPC Tag Performance Evaluation(Daniel D. Deavours, 2005)


1-4 Wireless Mobile Services for Industrial Applications Eng. Ramadan A. Fan



24

1-4 WIRELESS MOBILE SERVICES FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

Eng. Ramadan A. Fan

Saudi Aramco, Distribution & Terminal OperationsDhahran, Saudi Arabia

e-mail: [email protected]

* This paper was presented in the symposium, then refereed and accepted for publication inthis Proceedings Book as a Useful Essay in its final form as follows:

Abstract:

Although wireless networks and mobile devices have been deployed in many Saudi Aramcofacilities such as offices, warehouses and other facilities; they have not been used widely for industrialplant applications. There are many opportunities where mobile hand-held devices can automate themanual processes that are currently being performed by plant operators. This would reduce unnecessarymanual work and improve the efficiency of operations.

Saudi Aramco’s Distribution& Terminal Operations conducted a study to evaluate the requirementsof wireless mobile services for industrial plants. The aim of the study was to find the best mobile solutionfor plant operators which would suite the Industrial work environment and can be integrated with thecorporate applications such as the SAP system. The proposed solution was thus tested at one of SaudiAramco’s distribution bulk plants to verify its potential use.

This paper reviews a number of basic concepts of wireless technology, thus it demonstrates someguidelines and recommendations on how to select wireless equipments and mobile applications. Thepaper discusses the pilot project for the bulk plant and summarizes the findings of the field study. Ithighlights the unique requirements of mobile services for industrial plants, and discusses possiblestrategies for the integration of the field devices with the corporate IT infrastructure.

Keywords:

Wireless, mobile, industrial, application, infrastructure, integration.

Biography:

Mr Ramadan Fan got his Bachelor and Master Degrees in Systems Engineering from King FahdUniversity of Petroleum & Minerals in 1997 and 2004 accordingly. He works as Systems Engineer atSaudi Aramco’s Domestic Sales & Technical Support Department. During the past 10 year, he hadworked on several projects such as the automation of plant operations and work processes, definition ofsoftware application requirements, coordination of IT infrastructure deployment in plants, review andevaluation of new technologies, and arrangement of end-user support and training.





25

1- INTRODUCTION

Wireless technologies can be used in many applications and for different reasons. For an industrial firmlike Saudi Aramco, it could mean providing real time access to remote data, connectivity with a mobile workforce, reduced installation and operation costs compared to a wired network, and flexibility to reconfigure orscale the network as the need arises. The goal is to provide improved services while minimizing the cost andincreasing the return on investment of existing systems.

Although wireless networks and mobile devices have been deployed in many Saudi Aramco facilitiessuch as offices, warehouses, and other indoor facilities; it has not been used widely for industrial plantapplications. There are many opportunities where mobile hand-held devices can automate the manualprocesses currently being performed by plant operators in the field, which will result in reducing redundantmanual work and improve operations efficiency.

As wireless technologies mature in the industrial world, the number of communication protocols andnetwork topologies continues to grow. Also, the capabilities of mobile devices are increasing in terms ofspeed, distance, cost, transmission method, and networking capabilities. It is the role of the users to select theright technology for the right application. Selecting the proper technology and equipment will ultimately leadto a successfully installed, well-designed, reliable and efficient system.

Saudi Aramco’s Distribution & Terminal Operations conducted a study to evaluate the requirements ofwireless mobile services for industrial plants. The objective was to find the best mobile solution for plantoperators that will be suitable for the process environment while maintaining the capability to integrate withthe corporate applications such as the SAP system. The proposed solution was piloted at one of SaudiAramco’s distribution bulk plants as a proof of concept.

In this paper, we provide a basic introduction to wireless technology, then we go over some of theguidelines and recommendations on how to select wireless equipment and mobile applications, and then wediscuss the bulk plant pilot project and summarize the findings of this study. We will shed some light on theunique requirements of mobile services in industrial plants, and discuss the possible strategies for integratingthe field-level devices with the corporate IT infrastructure.

2- WIRELESS BASICS

Wireless technologies use the air as a communication medium. Information is carried over radio wavesthat have frequencies between 9 kHz and 300 GHz. Since air is a shared medium, the usage of radio waves istypically regulated by government authorities. This determines which frequency ranges should be licensedand which are unlicensed. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the internationalorganization which looks after the standardization and regulation of international radio andtelecommunications. In Saudi Arabia, it is done by the Communications and Information TechnologyCommission (CITC).

The radio frequencies are divided into different bands usually known as the radio spectrum. At the lowend of the spectrum, radio waves can travel great distances but the capacity for delivering information islimited. Above 1 GHz the transmission becomes increasingly constrained by obstructions and therefore therange becomes limited but the capacity becomes higher. Mobile communications, for example, operate in therange 800 MHz to 3 GHz. The communications between different devices is usually controlled usingwireless networks. These networks are often grouped into the following categories:

2-1 Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWAN)

These are usually cellular technologies offered regionally, nationally or even globally and are providedby a wireless service provider for a monthly usage fee. Cellular network technologies include GSM, GPRS,3G or UMTS, CDMA2000 and other standards. Network speeds vary from 10 kbps to 384 kbps. Thesenetworks are usually allocated licensed spectrums which are regulated by national authorities.





26

2-2 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN)

These networks transmit data over long-distances and are typically used to connect smaller wirelessLANs together. They are also known as WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) whichis a telecommunications technology based on the IEEE 802.16 standards. WiMAX typically uses licensedspectrum to deliver a point-to-point Internet connection from an ISP to an end user. It uses frequenciesbetween 2 GHz and 11 GHz and speeds of up to 70 Mbps.

2-3 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN)

This is the most common type of wireless network. They are based on the IEEE 802.11 standards, alsoknown as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity). Wi-Fi networks broadcast radio waves that can be picked up by Wi-Fireceivers that are attached to different computers or mobile devices. Wi-Fi is a shorter range system,typically hundreds of meters, and uses unlicensed spectrum to provide access to a network. Frequencies canbe 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz and speeds range from 2 Mbps to 54+ Mbps.

2-4 Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN)

These are networks used for communication among computer devices close to one person (such asmobile phones or PDAs). They are based on the IEEE 802.15 standards. They cover short distances,typically a few meters, and operate at low data rates (<1 Mbps). They can be used for peer-to-peercommunication between devices, or for connecting the devices to a higher level network. Examples ofWPAN technologies include IrDA, Bluetooth, RFID, UWB and ZigBee.

Figure 1. Wireless technologies.

3- SELECTION OF MOBILE DEVICES

Usage of mobile devices has been expanding considerably in recent years due to the increasedcapabilities of these devices. In general, mobile devices can be classified into two main categories: voice-centric devices such as mobile phones and radio equipment, and data-centric devices such as personal digitalassistants (PDAs) and laptops/tablet PCs. Selection of the most suitable device within each category shouldbe carried out to fulfill a specific technical and functional requirement.

For the purpose of this study, we have focused on the second category of mobile devices, which is thedata-centric device. The objective of the study was to allow plant operators to perform their job moreefficiently, and replace the manual work procedures (which are often paper-based) with a fully automatedwork process based on a wireless hand-held solution. To achieve this, we have looked at some general andspecific requirements that have to be met in the potential mobile devices

.





27

3.1 General Requirements

The selection process of mobile devices was based on certain criteria set by a review team. The teamconducted comparisons of different device specifications including operating system, hardware capabilities,applications support, network and connectivity, security features and device management. Two categories ofdata-centric devices were reviewed: PDA based hand-held devices, and Tablet PC portable devices.

The device platform and operating system had to be compatible with the corporate IT infrastructure,therefore Microsoft products were specified for the PDA and Tablet PC. These platforms not only providedseamless integration with the desktop computers at the plant, but also provided developers with well knowndevelopment tools. Alternative platforms such as Symbian, Blackberry and Palm OS were not tested but theycould be used for other applications.

For device hardware requirements, the emphasis was made on the durability and flexibility of the deviceto suit prolonged usage by plant operations on daily basis. Battery life and power management were keyfactors in the selection process. Also, the overall size and weight of the devices were important to ensureuser convenience and acceptance of the new technology.

Figure 2. Industrial mobile devices.

Application support is the main success factor for the mobile devices. For this study, the devices had toprovide the capability to integrate with the SAP enterprise resource planning system, which meant themobile devices should support Personal Java Edition. Also, for non-SAP mobile applications, the mobiledevices should support .Net technology and Java based Web services.

Connectivity options are typically selected to meet the specific application requirements. However, it isrecommended to identify the expansion and upgrade requirements to be able to meet future business needs.In general, the devices should support basic connectivity such as IrDA and Bluetooth (WPAN), Wi-Fi(WLAN), and GSM network access (WWAN).

Security of mobile devices is extremely important to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availabilityof information on these mobile devices will not compromise Saudi Aramco networks or systems. Thedevices should comply with the IT security standards and guidelines, including physical security, accesscontrol, authentication, data protection, equipment identification, antivirus and backup.

Finally the mobile devices will require support and management similar to other IT equipment. Thismeans the mobile devices should provide hardware management capabilities such as inventory, configurationand monitoring. They should also provide data and information management capabilities such as contentmanagement and centralized security and protection.

3.2 Special Requirements for Industrial Plants

Mobile devices that will be used within hazardous areas require special attention as they are considereda potential source of ignition. Hazardous areas within Saudi Aramco plants are classified into the followingcategories:





28

Class I, Zone 0: This is an area in which ignitable concentrations of flammable gases or vapors arepresent either continuously or for long periods of time.

Class I, Zone 1: This is an area in which ignitable concentrations of flammable gases or vapors arelikely to exist under normal operating conditions, or as a result of repair or maintenance, or becauseof leakage.

Class I, Zone 2: This is an area in which ignitable concentrations of flammable gases or vapors arenot likely to occur in normal operation and if they do occur they will exist only for a short period.

Most areas within Saudi Aramco plants are classified as Class I Zone 2. However, the company policy isto standardize on Class I Zone 1 devices. These are known as intrinsically safe (or I-safe) devices which aretypically molded from petrochemical and solvent material and sealed to certain standards to protect againstingress. This class was selected based on several factors such as Saudi Aramco Engineering Standards,VHF/UHF Land Mobile and Fixed Radio Communication, and Loss Prevention Departmentrecommendations.

Operating departments may wish to consider the possibility of using Class I Zone 2 devices as long asthey are listed for the same level and type of hazard. This requires, however, that they provide certainconditions such as developing procedures and guidelines within the plants to avoid operating these Zone 2devices in Zone 1. In addition, precautions are taken to restrict the use of these devices where interferencewith fixed instrumentation and control systems is a possibility. The listed equipment shall be identified notonly for the class of location, but also for explosive, combustible or ignitable properties of the gas or vaporthat will be present.

4. SELECTION OF SOFTWARE PLATFORM

Integrating the mobile device applications with the corporate IT infrastructure is important forsuccessful implementation of the overall wireless mobile solution. In this study, we investigated twomethods of establishing this software integration: (1) through direct access from a Web browser to the back-end server application, and (2) through a client-server approach where an enterprise mobility platform isused to link between the client devices and the backend server.

The mobility platform approach ensures that all the functionality and tools are provided to manage theorganization and flow of information between mobile devices and enterprise systems, as well as providing apowerful design environment for application development. The selection of the most suitable platform isusually based on the vendor profile, the application development toolkit, device management capabilities,data management capabilities, system integration options, system security features and overall estimatedcost.

Figure 3. Mobile application platform.

Data Integration Layer

MobilityServer

BusinessMonitoringDashboard

Database Layer

Business Rules &Alert Management

Portal Server

Portals

Messaging

Push: Alerts,Workflow

ESB Interface

Pull information

MobileDevices





29

5. PILOT STUDY

A feasibility study was conducted to evaluate the requirements for mobile hand-held devices in thedistribution bulk plants. The bulk plant is a facility which receives refined products from a refinery, storesthe product in tank farms, and loads the products either to customer trucks or to other Saudi Aramcofacilities. The daily operation of a bulk plant usually involves many inspection processes which are manuallyperformed by the operator. These include for example: the truck inspection process, the loading equipmentinspection, and the product quality assurance testing.

These inspections require a lot of manual redundant data entry which is susceptible to human error andmay result in inaccurate information. The objective was to find the best solution that will reduce manualwork and increase efficiency of plant operations. The proposed solution was designed to utilize wirelessnetwork connectivity to enable direct data field entry and transfer to corporate systems such as SAP.

Figure 4. Pilot system overview

The pilot system consisted of three main components: (1) a wireless LAN based on 802.11a/g standards,(2) intrinsically safe PDA and Tablet PC devices, and (3) a mobile application platform which was integratedwith Saudi Aramco IT environment. Two applications were tested as part of this pilot project: the ProductQuality Assurance System which is an existing Web application used to keep track of quality test activities,and the Truck Inspection System which is a SAP application used to keep track of truck inspection activities.

5.1 Direct Access to Backend Systems

The Web application was selected to test the direct access method from the device web browser. Using aPDA hand-held device, it was observed that the original Web page does not appear in the correct size andformat, which means that a special version of the Web page has to be developed. This translates intoconsiderable amount of development time and effort as well as future maintainability issues. In addition, thedevice will require continuous online connection to the server in order for the applications to run seamlessly.This requires a reliable high-bandwidth WLAN that should cover the whole plant area.

The direct Web browser method was more reasonably accepted on the Tablet PC device. The largerscreen could comfortably show the original Web pages without any alteration. However, this approach stillrequires continuous online WLAN connection which could be quite expensive depending on the size of theplant coverage area. In addition, Tablet PC’s classified as Class I Zone 1 devices are non-existent in themarket, at least during the time of this pilot study. Only PDA size hand-held devices were available as ClassI Zone 1.





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5.2 Mobile Application Platform

The SAP application test was performed to evaluate both the direct access method as well as the mobileapplication platform method. The direct access method had the same arguments discussed above with Webapplications. The mobility platform approach, on the other hand, provided some advantages that overcomethe shortcomings of direct access. For example, the devices will be able to work in off-line/online modewhich means the applications will continue running locally on the device even when network services areinterrupted momentarily.

Also, the mobility platform typically provides a complete development tool and integration environmentwhich enables the users to modify their original applications to fit the mobile device screen with minimaleffort. This opens the door for applications to use the most suitable device including PDAs or Tablet PCs,which also means enabling the user to select the proper Class I Zone 1 device available in the market. Thedownside of mobility platforms is that they require a large initial investment in order to establish thenecessary infrastructure within the company.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

The selection of the right wireless technology, the right hardware equipment, and the right softwareplatform will depend largely on the site-specific requirements for each industrial application. However, asgeneral guidelines we provide the summary of our findings in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Pilot Study Findings

Direct Access to Backend Systems Mobile Application Platform

Type of Application Generally for casual uses, view reports,browsing.

Geared toward field worker, interactiveapplications and mission-critical

systems.Devices Limited to specific screen sizes.

I-Safe models that support such screensizes are not commonly available.

Variety of devices can be used, either I-Safe or non-I-Safe. Application can be

customized to screen size.Connection Always needs online connection with

backend system.Can work in online/off-line mode.

Network Utilization High bandwidth required.Complete screens transferred.

Low bandwidth required.Only changes are transmitted.

User Interface Based on desktop application flow. Tailored to field worker based onbusiness process.

Development May require development effort tomodify original application to fit new

screen sizes. Development done inoriginal application environment.

May require development effort tomodify original application to fit new

screen sizes. Development done inmobility platform toolkit environment.

This pilot study was intended as a proof of concept and evaluation of the technology. It proved that thewireless mobile services can be implemented in the industrial plant environment to automate work processesand improve efficiency. However, proper design of the solution and careful selection of thehardware/software are needed to ensure the business requirements are met.

REFERENCES

[1] McPherson, Ian, “Industrial wireless: Hope, help or hype?” Industrial Ethernet Book, Issue 31, March 2006.

[2] Saudi Aramco, Bulk Plant Wireless Hand-Held Pilot Project Report, April 2007.

[3] Schmidt, Garrett, “Informed decision: Users need to marry correct technology to application,” InTech, September 2005.

[4] Thane, Phil, “Wireless technology: Communications and automation in the terminal,” Tank Storage, Vol. 3, Issue 4, November2007.


1-5 Virtual Environments and Future of E-Services: an Inductive Vision Dr. Khaled Salah Said Abdelmagid



31

1-5 VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS AND FUTURE OF E-SERVICES: ANINDUCTIVE VISION

Dr. Khaled Salah Said Abdelmagid

Assistant ProfessorFaculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Egypt

Manager of FOED Project - [email protected] & [email protected]

* This paper was submitted, refereed and accepted for publication in this Proceedings Book asa Scientific Research Paper: (for the contents, See the Arabic Volume of the Proceedings).

Abstract:

The paper supposes that Virtual Environments (VE) and techniques will play an effective innovativerole, that would change how various electronic services are presented and offered in the near future. Theaim of the study is to examine the research hypothesis by using descriptive, analytical and inductivemethodologies.

The study is divided into sections. The introduction highlights the importance of the research,hypothesis, aims and methods of the paper.

The second section describes the development of e-services in the government and private sectors.The third part discusses the current and the anticipated changes to the provision of services through theinternet. Next, it presents a theoretical background about Virtual Reality (VR) and Virtual Environments(VE), their techniques and requirements, and its applications. The fifth section illustrates an inductivevision of the future of presentation of the e-services through Virtual Environments in government andprivate sectors, and possible challenges of their application in the Arabic world.

The conclusion highlights the main findings of the research and tests it against the hypothesis of theresearch and how far it was capable to achieve the study aim.

Keywords:

Virtual Reality – Virtual Environment – E-Services

Biography:

Dr. Khaled was born in Assiut, Egypt in December 1970. He obtained his B. Sc. and an M. Sc.Degrees from Faculty of Engineering Assiut University (FOE-AU), Egypt in 1993 and 2000, respectively.He got his Ph. D. Degree from UACG University, Sofia - Bulgaria (in a Ph.D. scholarship). At present, heworks as a lecturer (assistant professor) at Assiut University, Egypt.

Dr. Khaled has published eleven research papers in the last five years and participated in manyinternational conferences around the world. He is the manager of the FOE Developing Project (FOED),coordinator of strategic plan 2008-2012 of FOE-AU and member in many scientific and administrativecommittees in FOE-AU.

His other activities include: the organization of conferences and seminars, web design, designarchitectural and urban planning projects. He is a member in a number of national and internationalscientific organizations in Egypt and around the world.


1- 6 Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry Experience in Presenting Electronic Services Dr. Saud H. Al-Sehali



32

1-6 RIYADH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE INPRESENTING ELECTRONIC SERVICES

Dr. Saud H. Al-Sehali

Director General of Information & Research,

Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry

[email protected]

* This paper was submitted, refereed and accepted for publication in this Proceedings Book asa Useful Essay: (for the contents, See the Arabic Volume of the Proceedings).

Abstract:

This paper aims to highlight the importance of the use of information technology (IT) as an approach todevelopment and transformation of the organizations’ work methodologies and to achieve certain standards andcriteria that would guarantee the success of this approach.

This paper discusses motivations that promote Saudi organizations to provide electronic services, therequired methodology for the development of these services and the obstacles that organizations would experiencewhile offering electronic services. Lessons learned from the transformation experience of Riyadh Chamber ofCommerce and Industry to an electronic chamber would help other organizations to overcome possibletransformation obstacles.

The paper discusses a number of recommendations and findings, some of these are: the Saudi organizationsshould have strong motivations to provide electronic services, the importance of a rational methodology; thatrelies on reality and the achievement of planned objectives; for the development of such services, theorganizations’ anticipation of future barriers of the application of electronic services and how to encounter them;associated with the increase of the expenditure level and prices, the need of IT training for the organizations’ staffand to update their knowledge about e-information systems and software, the need for continuous assessment ofthe level of utilization, methods of providing electronic services, the extent of need for new services or methods;and finally the need to take all the above mentioned points into account during the development stage of the ITservices.

Keywords:

Private Sector, Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Information Technology, Electronic Services,Electronic Government, Electronic Infrastructure.

Biography:

Dr. Saud H. Al-Sehali graduated from the Faculty of Administrative Sciences, King Saud University in1992, got the Master’s Degree in Information Systems from the University of Detroit Mercy, USA, in 1997, andobtained his doctorate in Information Technology, from the University of Northern Iowa, USA, in 2000. He wasrewarded the Custodian’s of the Two Holy Mosques Ambassador’s Award, in Washington, for his scientificexcellence after earning his doctorate degree with honors. Dr. Saud worked as a Director of IT Department of theHuman Resources Development Fund. He also worked as a part-time lecturer in the Computer Department of theArab Open University, Riyadh. At present, Dr. Saud works as a Director General of Research and Information ofthe Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a supervisor of the administration of the On-Line project ofthe Chamber. Dr. Saud is involved in several consultation and technical committees, businesses and studies aboutelectronic information and e-transactions. These include, the Consultation Group which was assigned to establisha national center to retain and keep track of World Trade Organization information, the Board of Directors of theNational Credit Center, and the Steering Committee of Electronic Transactions at the Riyadh Chamber ofCommerce and Industry.

1-Theme One: New Technologies and their Use in Providing eServices1-7 Potential and Challenges of The Application of eGovernment in Saudi Arabian Organization of Standards and Specifications Eng. Talat AlRahalli



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1-7 POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES OF THE APPLICATIONOF E-GOVERNMENT IN SAUDI ARABIAN ORGANIZATION OF

STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS

Eng. Talat AbdulQader AlRahalli

Manager Of General Department of Information TechnologySaudi Arabian Standards Organization

[email protected]


Abstract:

The paper focuses on number of important issues that is related to the application of the e-government programin the Saudi Arabian organization of standards and specifications. It discusses the methodology of the e-governmentprogram (Yasser) in regards to the implementation of the program as well as the process of implementation. Thepaper argues that application of the program (Yasser) would guarantee the best and most comprehensive solution isadopted for the organization and development of internal and external transactions. This contributes to the activationof activities and services that could change the method of handling e-information and reach quality electronictransactions. On the other hand, it would contribute to the upgrade and enhancement of the personnel performance,abilities and productivity. The organization would be unable to control efficiently e-services and activities that areconnected to the system and to integrate systems with the Department of Information Technology. The paperproposes a smooth approach to the application of the e-government in the organization of standards andspecifications which discusses and verifies the following points:

Goals and strategies behind the application of e-government in the organization

Electronic portal gate of the organization on the Internet and organization’s Intranet

Electronic archive system, the exchange of information and documents filing

Infrastructure that consists of networks, points or gates of contacts and data protection systems

Electronic payment system that is implemented by SADAD system

The Development of standards to sell specifications Saudi and Gulf

Interaction and electronic integration with the Gulf Cooperation Council of Arab, regional andcommunity

Keywords:

Electronic Transactions, SASO e-Government, Interaction of the Arab and Regional System.

Biography:

Eng. Talat Rahalli was born in Madinah, KSA in August 1966. He obtained his B. Sc. and an M.Sc. degreesfrom KFU, KSA in 1993 and he followed a number of IT and applications management of e-government courses.He did his studies at the Institute of e-business that is headed by the Egyptian Cabinet. He worked as IT Directorof IT Authority of Saudi Arabia Standards Organization, where he participated in a number of specialized courseson the standardization and WTO agreements. He is WTO member of the Supreme National Committee for GISand member of the technical committee ISO TC 211 and the digital Geographic Information Systems committee.He is also member of the Steering Committee for linking information centers and standardization bodies in theGulf Cooperation Council. He is the Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Gulf specifications andinformation technology.


1-8 Potential Consideration of eBusiness Technology in the Curriculum of Architectural Engineering in KFU Dr. Bhzad Sidawi



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1-8 POTENTIAL CONSIDERATION OF eBUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INTHE CURRICLUM OF ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING IN KING

FAISAL UNIVERSITY

Dr. Bhzad Sidawi

Assistant Professor, Department of ArchitectureCollege of Architecture and planning, King Faisal University, Dammam

[email protected]


Abstract:

The revolution in networking computer technology and electronic communications in the secondhalf of the 20th century has paved the way for a number of electronic technologies such as e-business ande-commerce to emerge. E-business and e-commerce tools have helped practices to effectively reachremote clients, market their products and to integrate their business systems with their partners-in-business. These technologies have affected the way that building industry conduct business,communicate, design and construct buildings. At present, clients who have adopted these technologieshave special design requirements in regards to the design of their new buildings. These requirementsinfluence the building design and how architects interpret the design problem. This paper argues thatArchitecture students should be aware of the e-business and e-commerce technologies and their specialrequirements that it would be imposed on building’s design. The author’s observation of the designstudios at College of architecture, King Faisal University showed that students did not consider thesetechnologies in the agenda of the design project. Subsequently, students were surveyed and interviewed toexplore the extent of the student’s knowledge about these technologies. The survey showed thatarchitectural students have little knowledge about these e-technologies and how they can be taken intoaccount in projects. This paper demonstrates the survey findings and explains why students do notconsider the above mentioned technologies in architectural design. It also makes recommendations ofhow to incorporate these technologies in the educational curriculum.

Keywords:

The Internet, eBusiness, eCommerce, Design Studio, Pre-Assessment, Prior Knowledge.

Biography:

Dr Sidawi was born in Damascus, Syria. He obtained his B. Sc. Degree from Damascus University,Faculty of Architecture and Planning in 1982. He has worked in Syria for ten years as an architect anddesign team leader. He got his Mphil in CAAD in 1997 from Bath University, UK and Ph D in InternetInformation Management from Cardiff University in 2004. He obtained E-commerce and E-tutoringdesign certificates from Bristol and Plymouth Colleges, in 2005 and 2007 accordingly. He had worked inthe UK for around 7 years as an architectural designer and CAAD consultant and he has a number ofpublications in the areas of CAAD and Architectural office management of electronic information andprojects. He joined King Faisal University, College of Architecture and Planning in November 2006 andworks there at present.





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1- INTRODUCTION

A number of networking technologies have emerged in the late 1990’s that affected the way that peoplelive and erect buildings. The Internet comprises of a number of technologies that have affected how peopletrade and conduct business. One of these technologies is the e-commerce (i.e. electronic commerce) whichcan be defined as buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web[1] & [2]. The other technology is the E-business (i.e. electronic business) which describes all businessactivities that involve the sharing of information through electronic networks, i.e. companies are being ableto sell or order and pay for goods online, check availability and get further information on products [3]. Itincludes any conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customersand integrating systems and collaborating with business partners.

These electronic networking technologies have helped people to communicate remotely i.e. to workfrom home such as tele-workers; they have also helped people to meet and discuss business on line, buy andsell goods and to do banking etc. The use of networking technologies such as e-business and mobiletechnologies has facilitated the work mobility. The new methods of work suggest a new workplace culturewhich accepts that ‘wherever one works is the workplace, be it a headquarters building, branch office; tele-work centre, home office or an airplane, car, boat, airline club, restaurant, or hotel lobby [4].

Jackson et al pointed out that: “Not all work happens at a desk. Not all meetings take place in meetingrooms. Knowledge workers need a variety of different settings to suit their different needs at different timesof the day. They need places for individuals to think and work quietly, places for groups to gather andexchange ideas, places for people to meet—which may be formal or informal, scheduled or impromptu,electronically or face to face—places for teams to set up long-term projects, and places for those justdropping in”. As some of the work can be done virtually and remotely or anywhere inside or outside theoffice, new workspace should be designed in a flexible way that allow the user to make an optimal utilizationof the space and to accommodate a much wider variety of settings than those provided by traditional designsolutions [5].

A number of authors suggested that the adoption of computer networking and communicationstechnologies by practices has an impact on a number of building features. In the UK, the impact of ICT-enabled (i.e. electronic Information and Communications Technologies) new working practices (e.g. hot-desking, home-working and team working) on office space demand was found to be muted and gradual [6],[7] & [8]. On the other hand, more firms in the UK demand flexible office space [9]. They adopt a portfolioapproach to achieve mobility, flexibility and adaptability in office space [3]. Gibson and Lizieri predict thatthe amount of office space required by organizations would decrease as organizations continued toreorganize, adopt new working practices and implement more technology [10].

On the other hand, these networking technologies including e-commerce and e-business would have aninfrastructure that need some extra spaces such as horizontal and vertical shafts for networks wiring. Thesetechnologies change how businesses conduct work and in some cases, such as in banks, may need spaces forcash machines and deposit machines and in other types of buildings a secure central server’s space. Thesetechnical and spatial requirements should be taken into account by the architect during the early design phase.

These studies suggested that practices and businesses (e.g. potential clients) who adopt ICT andnetworking technologies would have the following demands in regards to the building design:

Mobile, flexible and adaptable space layout; Less building size is demanded by ICT practices than practices that do not use these technologies; As some business functions can be located remotely or outsourced, less central office or

headquarter space is required; In some cases, extra spaces would be required to accommodate certain functions.

As stated above, the adoption of the e-technologies including e-business and e-commerce by the clientwould have an impact on the building design. Architects should be aware of the special requirements ofthose clients and the needs of these technologies as well, and how it would impact the design product. Thepaper argues that the awareness should be brought to the attention of architects during their higher educationstage.





36

At present, these technologies are not taught at the College of architecture and planning, King FaisalUniversity1. Observation and chats with few students of years 3, 4 and 5, were undertaken by the author, andit was found that students were not aware of these technologies and how they can be embedded in thebuilding design and what their likely effect is on the design of buildings. Thus, it was necessary to find outthe level of year 4 and 5 student’s knowledge about these technologies and whether they had been consideredin design projects.

2- RESEARCH OBJECTIVES (THEME)

The research has a set of objectives and these are:

To find out the extent of student’s awareness of e-business and e-commerce technologies andwhether they would consider them in the design project

To know the reasons of non consideration of these technologies in the design project To set recommendations of how to implement these technologies in architectural education

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In regards to the research objectives, it is argued that a combination of quantitative and qualitativeresearch methods is needed. The use of mixed methods is because the findings that relate to each method willbe used to complement one another and at the end of the study to enhance theoretical or substantivecompleteness [11].

To assess the student’s knowledge about advanced technologies, a survey questionnaire was suggestedas a pre assessment and used to examine the level of knowledge and student awareness about thesetechnologies. The pre-assessment is recommended by researchers such as Ausubel & Meyer for severalpurposes. Some of these are: to assess student prior knowledge and to provide the basis for theimplementation of teaching syllabus into the educational curriculum [12]& [13].

A questionnaire survey was used to target 137 students who are in the fourth and fifth year at college ofarchitecture and planning, departments of architecture and building technology. Fifth and fourth yearstudents were chosen because it was presumed that those students have more advanced knowledge thanstudents who are at lower levels of study. In case that the survey found that they have lack of knowledgeabout the advanced systems, it will make recommendations of how to incorporate it in the curriculum. Therecommendations would highlight the likely benefits of teaching advanced technologies to students to theiroverall architectural education.

A questionnaire was prepared to inspect the student’s views about the following aspects:

Their knowledge about each component of e-business and e-commerce Whether they think that it can be considered in the architectural design of buildings

The original questionnaire was written in English but after careful consultation, it was translated intoArabic as it was found that a large number of students are weak in English. The questionnaire was doneusing Dream weaver version but there was some difficulty in writing Arabic letters as Dream weaver doesnot fully support the Arabic language letters. The questionnaire was linked to - what so called- dynamicdatabase, and they were placed on the internal server of the college of Architecture and given a unique webaddress. When the student completes the questionnaire and clicks SUBMIT, the results will be recordeddirectly into the database on a designated internal server at the college. An explanation note of where andhow to fill the questionnaire was prepared. The author visited all fourth and fifth year design studios of thebuilding technology and architecture departments, explained about the questionnaire to the students, askedfor their participation and co-operation, and handed copies of the explanation note to them.

The questionnaire was launched on the Intranet page of the college of architecture in early of June 2007,for around two weeks. At the end, the total number of respondents was 64 that represent an overall return of47% which is high return percentage of such Internet questionnaire survey.

1 The author sees that E-business needs be taught to students because architectural practices are increasingly relying one-business tools such as web based project management systems to conduct their work, see for instance AJPlus casestudies [18] and [19]. However, this aspect is out of this paper scope.





37

The sample number (i.e. number of respondents) was too small to allow anything but simple statisticaltests [14]& [15], such as Cramers’ test of correlation to examine the strength of relationships, and the Chi-square Pearson test to measure their significance. However, it was difficult to investigated by thequestionnaire the reasons of non implementation of E-business which may include behavioral or attitudefactors. Therefore, the interviews tool was suggested. It would reveal the hidden reasons of why advancedtechnologies had not been implemented in design projects and may provide information that could supportthe questionnaire results. Three random interviews were carried out. The target of these interviews was tofind out whether there are any constraints on the implementation of advanced technologies in design projectsand why students were unhappy to implement them. Qualitative research tools such as the Interviews wouldproduce data that can be analyzed by classifying it into categories and making comparisons using cross-referencing (i.e. similarities and non similarities) which allow interpretation and judgment.

4- GENERALRESULTSCONCERNINGTHE USEOF E-BUSINESSANDE-COMMERCETECHNOLOGIES

It was found that most students have little or average knowledge about the e-commerce and e-business.70% to 75% have little or average knowledge about the following components: electronic shopping cart,electronic catalogue, electronic payment gateway, electronic Inventory tracking, electronic, remote access tooffice networked computer, electronic banking and transactions, web-based project management sites,electronic, project Tendering services, and electronic customer relations management (CRM) (see table 1,appendix A).

76% to 80% of respondents also have average or little knowledge about the following components:electronic third party payment, electronic processor, electronic visitor tracking. Electronic procurement andelectronic enterprise management systems. 84% of respondents have little and averaged knowledge aboutelectronic enterprise resource planning (ERP). Nearly half of the students have high knowledge aboutelectronic customer accounts (see table 1, appendix A).

Students were asked a general question about the possible consideration of e-business and e-commerce(i.e. as one of the design requirements) in the architectural design of commercial, retail, and buildings. 41%of them said it could be considered and 38% said that it can be considered but they do not know how. Thetotal percentage of whose in favour of considering e-business technology was 79% (see table 2, appendix A).

5. FOCUSED RESULTS ABOUT E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES

It should be mentioned that only significant links as defined in section three will be reported. Significantlinks were found between the knowledge about various components of the e-business and e-commerce andthe consideration of the use of these components in design projects. However, there was not generalagreement among students who have high or above average knowledge of whether to consider a number ofe-business and e-commerce components in design projects. In detail, students who have high knowledgeabout the following components: electronic shopping cart, electronic third Party Payment, electronicprocessor, electronic inventory tracking, electronic procurement, electronic enterprise management systems,,electronic customer relations management (CRM), electronic enterprise resource planning (ERP), electronicproduct/data management (EDM, PDM) said they do not think that it should be considered in design ofcommercial, retail and office buildings, whereas students who have above average knowledge about theabove mentioned components said it is possible but with some difficulty to consider them (See table 3,appendix A).

It seems that students are not sure how e-business components can be considered in building design andas one student said: “It was not clear for some students how to consider e-business and, e-commercetechnologies in the design projects”.

6. THE INTERVIEW RESULTS

Students pointed out that there are other reasons of why the e-business and e-commerce technologieshad not been implemented. One of them mentioned:

“As a student I am constrained by a number of design factors (e.g. site constraints,environmental and climate factors) so I cannot go beyond the borders so I take only the factors





38

that should be considered in the design projects. This would guarantee success and it is betterthan taking a risk of implementation of new factors which include the advanced technologies”

A student said there was hardly enough time to do the design project so there was no time to find outhow these technologies could be implemented. A third student said that he was not aware of these systems asthey had not been taught previously at the college of architecture and no one had explained to him how toimplement them in design projects. One of the students revealed there was no way to implement thesetechnologies because the study term was so short, and the student is usually asked to provide architectural,structural and air conditioning design solutions only. Students have a concern that they would be criticizedby the jury if they implemented e-business and e-commerce technologies in the design project.

A student explained why these technologies had not been implemented in design of projects by saying:“I cannot implement something which I do not know about it. In architectural design studio, there are norequirements at present to do detailed plans or technical plans apart of A/C and structural plans.”

Another student pointed out that instructors should teach students about these electronic technologiesand how to apply them in projects, or even giving a hint about them, so the student can do some researchabout these technologies. Students suggested that college should invite external lecturers who can givelectures about these technologies.

7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The survey results showed that so far, most students have little or average knowledge about e-commerceand e-business. These results were expected as these e-business and e-commerce technologies have beenpreviously taught to students.

The in-depth analysis of results showed an agreement to abandon e–business from the design ofbuildings between students of high knowledge about e-business with students who have averaged knowledgeabout e-business. This was explained above that it was not clear for many students how to consider thesetechnologies in design and how they would affect the spatial and technical layout of the building.

Students highlighted to a number of constraints that would hinder possible implementation orconsideration of e-business technology in design projects, these are:

Little technical knowledge of student’s about this technology as there is no previous technicalcourses that teach such subject exist, neither at the college or department level;

The time constraints of the study term; The design project’s tutors instructions regarding the implementation of specific technical

requirements of design studio projects Risk of dissatisfying jury and the student’s concern of possible failure

Maciel et al had interviewed a mixed group of architectural professionals and academics in regards tothe integration of bioclimatic issues into design. He found that in some cases, architects consider learningabout bioclimatic issues and related building physics to be too technical and not related to design or studioactivities. The perception of those architects, is that this disconnection from design is a barrier to theintegration of these issues into design [16]. This may explain the design studio tutor’s and students resistanceto the implementation of e-business in design projects as they are probably not aware of e-business and seeno real connection between e-business and design.

Bury et al found that the majority of beginning students - commencing their architecture studies atAustralian universities- are ill-prepared for new forms of learning and working such as the following:

a. reflection-inaction, which is a continuous cycle of self-criticism and creation that produces bothlearning and improved work;

b. design making, which is the process that considers building construction as an integral part ofarchitectural designing.

He pointed out that beginning students and other laypersons have particular difficulty with the discoursebetween a world of ideas and a world of physical form. Therefore, it would be difficult for them to imaginehow a building would be constructed or how it would go together . He mentioned that use of computing





39

would offer new ways to engage both reflection-in-action and design making. He suggested that formmaking games can breed confidence and build new skills, which many beginning students sorely need [17].

This would explain why architecture students are not happy about the implementation of e-business indesign as this would expose them to a new form of learning and working which they are not prepared for,also they will not probably get the required support from their tutors.

To overcome the constraints of implementation of e-business in architecture engineering curriculum,the study suggests the following steps to increase student’s knowledge about these technologies:

a. To incorporate them in the architectural curriculum as technical course. E-business and e-commerce can be taught to students in a way that it demonstrates their effect on the workingenvironment and buildings. These technologies can be introduced through some type ofcomputer gaming which would speed up the learning process.

b. To incorporate them in design studio. Students should be taught how to build up a designcriteria by extracting information from a prospected e-business client about their designpreferences, systems they use and their activities

c. To increase students awareness about this technologies by inviting specialists and practitionersto deliver lectures about the application of e-business as one of the design requirements inproject design.

However, this cannot be achieved without the support of the teaching staff and their willingness toconsider advanced technologies in the design studio. There is also a need to increase student’s awarenessabout the advanced technologies. The author would anticipate that further in depth research is needed toassess the impact e-business and e-commerce on work environment and building design.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank all fourth and fifth year Architectural students, KFU who took part inthis survey. My specials thanks to the engineer Badran Zunifer who set the on-line survey questionnaire onthe KFU intranet.

References

[1] Goodwin, Peter. (2001). Effective integration of IT in construction, final report. (2001). [WWW] http:www.buildingcentretrust.org/xplorer/ Effective_Integration.pdf. (Accessed 2001).

[2] Grant, Simon. (1999). E-commerce for small businesses. [WWW] http://www.simongrant.org/pubs/iec99/small.html.(Accessed 21/10/2007).

[3] Thompson, Matt. (2003). The construction confederation publications. A beginners guide to e-business in construction.[WWW] www.thecc.org.uk/pdf/EBusiness.pdf. (Accessed July 2007).

[4] Gomes, Cristina Caramelo, Aouad Ghassan and Ormerod, Marcus. The sustainable workplace and workplace design. (2001).in: e-Business and Workplace Redesign. Editors: Paul Jackson; Reima Suomi. Publisher: Routledge, London.

[5] Jackson, Paul and Soumi, Reima (Ed). (2001). E-Business and Workplace Redesign. Publisher: Routledge, London.

[6] Lizieri, C. (1997), “The changing market for business space: occupier requirements, market response and valuation impact”,paper presented at The Cutting Edge Conference, RICS Research.

[7] Lizieri, C.M. (2003), “Occupier requirements in commercial real estate markets”, Urban Studies,Vol. 40 No. 5-6, pp. 1151-69.

[8] Gibson, V.A. and Lizieri, C.M. (2001), “Friction and inertia: business change, corporate real estate portfolios and the UK officemarket”, Journal of Real Estate Research, Vol. 22 Nos 1/2, pp. 59-79.

[9] Gibson, V. (2003), “Flexible working needs flexible space? Towards an alternative workplace strategy”, Journal of PropertyInvestment & Finance, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 12-22.

[10] Gibson, V. and Lizieri, C. (1999), “New business practices and the corporate real estate portfolio: how responsive is the UKproperty market?”, Journal of Property Research, Vol. 16, pp. 201-18.

[11] Morse, Janice M. (ed.). (1991). Qualitative health research. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage.

[12] Ausubel, D.P. (1968), Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, NY.

[13] Meyer, D. (1993). Recognizing and changing students’ misconceptions. College Teaching, 41, 104-108.

[14] Plackett, R L. (1974). The analysis of categorical data. London: Griffin

[15] Everitt, B S. (1992). The analysis of contingency tables. London: Chapman and Hall.





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[16] Maciela, Alexandra A. ; Ford, Brian; Lambertsa, Roberto. (2007). Main influences on the design philosophy and knowledgebasis to bioclimatic integration into architectural design—The example of best practices. Building and Environment, 42, 3762–3773.

[17] Burry, Mark; Dawson, Tony and Woodbury, Robert. Learning about architecture with the computer, and learning about thecomputer in architecture. ECAADE conference proceedings 1999, Collaborative learning and design, the University ofLiverpool, UK.

[18] The editor. (2001). Over 1500 projects now under management. Ajplus issue 26 April 2001. [WWW]http://www.ajplus.co.uk/proj_collaboration/?ChannellID=28. (18.5.2001).

[19] Roe, Patrick R.W..(ed). Towards an inclusive future Impact and wider potential of information and communicationtechnologies. Edited by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne.www.tiresias.org/cost219ter/inclusive_future/inclusive_future_book.pdf. (Accessed July 2007)

Appendix A

Question 1: The level of student’s knowledge about e-commerce and e-business

Table 1: Level of student’s knowledge about e-business and e-commerce

Ver

yli

ttle

litt

le

Av

erag

e

hig

h

Ver

yh

igh

To

tal

av

erag

eo

rli

ttle

To

tal

hig

h

E-commerce componentsElectronic shopping cart 38% 17% 20% 19% 6% 75% 25%Electronic Catalogue 23% 27% 20% 20% 9% 70% 29%Electronic Payment gateway 27% 22% 22% 20% 9% 71% 29%Electronic Third party payment 44% 19% 13% 16% 9% 76% 25%Electronic processor 44% 19% 17% 11% 9% 80% 20%Electronic Customer accounts 14% 17% 27% 20% 22% 58% 42%Electronic Inventory tracking 36% 22% 13% 20% 9% 71% 29%Electronic Visitor tracking 33% 23% 20% 13% 11% 76% 24%Remote access to office networked computer 31% 19% 22% 19% 9% 72% 28%Electronic banking and transactions 30% 19% 23% 16% 13% 72% 29%Web-based Project management sites 31% 22% 17% 20% 9% 70% 29%Electronic Project Tendering services 38% 23% 14% 22% 3% 75% 25%Electronic Procurement 38% 25% 16% 14% 8% 79% 22%Electronic Enterprise management systems 33% 30% 17% 13% 8% 80% 21%Electronic Customer Relations Management(CRM)) 39% 20% 14% 17% 9% 73% 26%Electronic Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) 42% 22% 20% 11% 5% 84% 16%Electronic/Product Data Management(EDM/PDM) 34% 28% 17% 13% 8% 79% 21%

Sample size of 64, Bold font: The percentages of students above 50%





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Question 2: Possible consideration of e-commerce and e-business in the architectural design ofcommercial, retail and office buildings

Table 2: Student’s views about the consideration of e-commerce and e-business in design of buildings

I don'tthink itshould beconsidered

I thinkit isdifficulttoconsiderit

It could beconsidered

It couldbeconsideredbut Idon'tknowhow

Possible consideration of e-commerce and e-business in architectural design of commercial, retailand office buildings 14% 8% 41% 38%

Sample size of 64, Bold font: The percentages of students above 50%

Table 3: The links between student’s knowledge about various e-business and e-commerce components andconsideration of e-business& e-commerce in design of buildings

Va

ria

ble

ste

sted

Co

rrel

ati

on

va

lue

Lev

elo

fsi

gn

ific

an

c

Res

ult

Knowledge about electronic shopping cart * Consideration of useof e-commerce& e-business technologies in design ofcommercial, retail and office buildings

0.38 0.01

students who havehigh knowledgesaid they do notthink that it shouldbe considered ordifficult to considerwhereas studentswho haveknowledge aboveaverage said it canbe considered but itmight be difficult toconsider

Knowledge about electronic third Party Payment * Considerationof use of e-commerce& e-business technologies in design ofcommercial, retail and office buildings

0.38 0.01

Knowledge about electronic processor * Consideration of use ofe-commerce& e-business technologies in design of commercial,retail and office buildings

0.40 0.00

Knowledge about electronic inventory tracking * Considerationof use of e-commerce& e-business technologies in design ofcommercial, retail and office buildings

0.44 0.00

Knowledge about electronic procurement * Consideration of useof e-commerce& e-business technologies in design ofcommercial, retail and office buildings

0.38 0.01

Knowledge about electronic enterprise management systems *Consideration of use of e-commerce& e-business technologies indesign of commercial, retail and office buildings

0.45 0.00

Knowledge about Electronic Customer Relations ManagementCRM * Consideration of use of e-commerce& e-businesstechnologies in design of commercial, retail and office buildings

0.33 0.05

Knowledge about electronic enterprise resource planning (ERP) *Consideration of use of e-commerce& e-business technologies indesign of commercial, retail and office buildings

0.45 0.00

Knowledge about electronic product/data management (EDM,PDM) * Consideration of use of e-commerce& e-businesstechnologies in design of commercial, retail and office buildings

0.38 0.01


1-9 King Saud University Electronic Portal: from a Vision to Reality Eng. Esam A. Alwagait



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1-9 KING SAUD UNIVERSITY ELECTRONICPORTAL: FROM A VISION TO REALITY

Eng. Esam A. Alwagait

Portal and E-Services Department ManagerKing Saud [email protected]


Abstract:

This Presentation shows King Saud University Experience in building an dynamic online Portal,a.k.a KSU’s Electronic Portal Program. It shows the different stages of the program starting from definingthe vision and goals of the portal, planning and preliminary design, till Launching the portal on theInternet. It shows the Content Management System (CMS) used and the technical challenges overcame. Italso discusses the strategies used to insure the continuity of updating the portal content by KSU Facultymembers and employees.

Keywords:

Electronic Portal, CMS , University Education, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Esam A. Alwagait was borni in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October 1975. He obtained his B. Sc. incomputer science from the College of Computer and Information Sciences in KSU, with second Honor.He later join the university working as a T.A in computer science department. He obtained his Mastersfrom University of Southern California in 2002. During his stay in the U.S Esam contributed with hiscolleagues in USC Database Laboratory to build Proteus Framework, which is considered to be amongthe first Internet Database Management Systems (IDBMS). He has published 5 scientific papers indifferent ACM and IEEE conferences.

Currently, Esam works as the Portal and E-services Department manager in KSU.


1-10 Social Engineering as Awareness Method for Information Security Eng. Waheed H. Alkahtani



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1-10 SOCIAL ENGINEERING AS AWARENESS METHODFOR INFORMATION SECURITY

Eng. Waheed H. Alkahtani

Senior Auditor,Internal Auditing Department, Saudi Aramco

[email protected]


Abstract:

Social engineering is a collection of techniques that is used to influence and convince people toperform certain actions or revealing confidential information. Currently, companies carry out penetrationtesting on critical information systems Corporate-wide. Penetration Testing (PT) identifies system’svulnerabilities but this would increase the solidarity of a specific system, network, or application.However, such periodical penetration test would be considered inadequate unless the human element isregarded and included. This paper presents SE as a possible measure that would examine the degree ofthe effectiveness of information protection policies and processes. It investigates the best approach thatcan be followed to test social engineering effects and evaluate the legality of conducting socialengineering vulnerability assessment in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords:

eServices, Social Engineering, Online Fraud, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Mr Waheed is a Computer Engineer with Master Degree in High speed Data Networks and ATMSwitches from King Saud University. In addition, he holds several certifications in Wireless Network,ATM LAN Engineering, and Microsoft. He has a solid technical background and more than 17 years ofexperience in Networking, Internet, Intranet solutions, and IT Project Management. He works at presentwith Saudi Aramco/Internal Auditing Department. Mr Waheed has other interests which include publicspeeches, online fraud, Mobile Technologies and Wireless Networks.


1-11 eServices@Kfupm: Status and Challenge Prof. Sadiq M. Sait



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1-11 ESERVICES@KFUPM: STATUS AND CHALLENGES

Prof. Sadiq M. Sait

Director, Information Technology CenterProfessor, Department of Computer EngineeringKing Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals

[email protected]


Abstract:

This paper illustrates the transformation from old legacy systems to state-of-the-art ERP system viathe Raed project at KFUPM. The main components of the new system include: the eBusiness suiteprovided by Oracle for administration systems, Banner (SunGard) for students educational services, andthe Business Intelligence systems for the management of enterprise performance. The research discussesthe mission, vision, goals, and scope of Raed project, and the various e-services offered to academic andadministration departments staff and students. The paper focus is on the role of the InformationTechnology Center (ITC) at KFUPM which enable the successful implementation of ERP projects,current issues that are associated with the deployment of systems, and future plans.

Keywords:

ERP, eServices, Business Intelligence.

Biography:

Sadiq M. Sait obtained a Bachelor's degree in Electronics from Bangalore University in 1981 andMaster's and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals(KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in 1983 & 1987 respectively. At present, he is a Professor at theDepartment of Computer Engineering, KFUPM, and Director of Information Technology Center. He isthe author of over 150 research publications including books and book chapters.


1-12 Developing an Enterprise it Architecture Eng. Fathi M. Alwosaibi



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1-12 DEVELOPING AN ENTERPRISE IT ARCHITECTURE

Eng. Fathi M. Alwosaibi

Information Security ConsultantSaudi Aramco

[email protected]


Abstract:

The adoption of successful Enterprise Architecture (EA) delivery is curial to enhance currentbusiness progress and create strategic planning for future development through the convergence of EAand identification of best practices.

This presentation would give the audience a chance to get an expert views over a number of vitalissues such as:

- Examination of current trends in Enterprise Architecture and the fine alignment of IT infrastructureand business goals

- Visualization and analysis of current business goals

- Creation of unassailable EA framework for future business

- Development of understanding about the differences between SOA & EA technology and olderintegration systems

- Extraction of new values from existing technologies through current EA measures

- Upholding of business interest by incorporating security value into processes & technology

- Learning& analyzing how different organizations can successfully optimize resources by managingEA processes effectively

Keywords:

Information Security, Enterprise Architecture, IT infrastructure, Saudi Aramco

Biography:

Fathi AlWosaibi is a 1990 graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana, USA in the field ofcomputer science. He is currently working at Saudi Aramco as an “Information Security Consultant”. Hehas been in this position for around three years and has been in charge of developing an enterpriseInformation Security roadmap for Saudi Aramco. Mr Fathi as an Information Security Consultant isrecognized internationally. He has made a keynote speech regarding the development of an enterprisearchitecture in a number of international conferences. In addition he participated in other InformationSecurity conferences and forums.

1-Theme One: New Technologies and their Use in Providing eServices1-13 Video-Mediated and Live Interaction Based Communication Channels: Towards Better E-Government Performance Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef



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1-13 VIDEO-MEDIATED AND LIVE INTERACTION BASEDCOMMUNICATION CHANNELS: TOWARDS BETTER E-GOVERNMENT

PERFORMANCE

Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef

Assistant Professor, Department of Architectural EngineeringFaculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Egypt

[email protected]

* This paper was submitted then refereed and accepted for publication in this ProceedingsBook as a Scientific Research Paper in its final form as follows:

Abstract:

E-government projects are initiated to foster the capture, management, use, dissemination, andsharing of information. These are capable to exploit ICTs to create a networked infrastructure forinterconnectivity, service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness, interactivity, decentralization,transparency and accountability. The increase of public demand on services offered by e-government anddelivered synchronously and asynchronously to the citizens, raise notable communication challenges; i.e.mismatch of channel preferences, and miscommunication between citizens and government bodiesregarding the increase of complexity and ambiguity of e-services. As a result, a research was undertakento find out multiple and innovative channels of communication which would overcome thecommunications difficulties. It highlights the possible integration that can be made between the conceptof video-mediated and live interactive communication with existing e-government channels, or what socalled Video-Mediated and Live Interaction based Communication Channels. The aim of this paper is toextend the scope of offering and delivering e-government services, increase the number and depth ofexisting channels of communication, support the sense of real and close presence between thecommunicators despite of the separating distance between them, and to sort out the presentmiscommunication challenges. This paper explains the methodology and findings of the research throughthree consecutive stages. In the first stage, it introduces the aim, objectives, methodology, scope andlimitation. The second stage illustrates the motivations that stimulated this research. The final stagediscusses a proposed model of Video-Mediated and Live Interaction Based Communication Channel.

Keywords:

Video-Mediated, Live Interaction, Communication Channels, e-Government.

Biography:

Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering,Assiut University, Egypt. He got Bachelor, M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees in Architectural Engineering fromAssiut University. His area of interest includes theories of Architecture and Architectural Design. Dr.Youssef has published several papers in refereed journals and conferences held in Spain, UK, Egypt,KSA, Turkey and Malaysia. He participated in two research projects funded by Johannes KeplerUniversity, Austria. In 2002, Dr. Youssef was awarded the fifth prize of the design competition of a‘Storage and Cars Shelter’ that is owned by Voest-Alpine Company-Linz, Austria. He got the BritishCouncil Ph.D. Research Competition Award that was held in Egypt in the year 2005.




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1- INTRODUCTION

Before embarking on a voyage to understand the evolution of e-government projects and communicationchannels; through which e-services can be provided and delivered, one should know what an e-governmentis and realize the vast transformations e-government projects brought with, the main phases of development,and the expected benefits. Upon completion of addressing these issues, a clear vision of e-governmentprojects would be built.

According to Pascual, reference number [20], definitions of e-government range from “the use ofinformation technology to free movement of information and overcome the physical bounds of traditionalpaper and physical based systems” to “the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery ofgovernment services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees”. For UN & ASOA (2002) e-government is defined as “utilizing the Internet and the World-Wide-Web for delivering governmentinformation and services to citizens”. Similarly, Means and Schneider (2000) define e-government as "therelationships between governments, their customers (businesses, other governments, and citizens), and theirsuppliers … by the use of electronic means", where it is "… simply using information technology to delivergovernment services directly to the customer; a citizen, a business or even another government entity" forHernon, in reference number [25].

As e-government projects managed to experience a level of the rapid and extensive advancement incomputer and networking technologies, they appeared capable of allowing businesses to transact with eachother more efficiently (B2B), bringing customers closer to businesses (B2C), and making the interactionbetween government and citizens (G2C), government and business enterprises (G2B) and inter-agencyrelationships (G2G) more friendly, convenient, transparent, inexpensive, concrete and dynamic. Moreover, e-government projects manage to strengthen the connection between the Government and Civil SocietalOrganizations (G2CS), as well as the connection between citizens themselves (C2C), if the interactionamong them is related to one of the previous categories of e-government, reference number [25].

With the evolution of e-government services, models to study phases of development were built. On theperspectives of the degree of change, role of technology, degree of complexity and targeted benefits, e-government projects are argued to rapidly move from the presence/startup phase to theconvergence/transaction phase over the process integration/interaction and transformation/two-wayinteraction phases, figures 1 and 2, references numbers [10] and [20]. The expected benefits are lesscorruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, cost reductions, effectivegovernance, better management of social and economic resources, and new styles of leadership, debating anddeciding strategies, transacting business, listening to citizens and communities, and organizing anddelivering information, references numbers [20] and [25].

Source: (Pascual, 2003)Source: ('eGovernment: More Than an Automationof Government Services', 2003)

Figure 2: Phases of e-government on theperspective of complexity and benefits.

Figure 1: Phases of e-government according tothe degree of change and role of technology

Parallel to the development of e-government, channels of communication, through which e-services areprovided and delivered, managed to experience a level of development, varying in type; from front desk andphone to website based, and promoting various modes of communication; conversation, consultation,allocation, registration and transaction, reference number [8]. As e-government projects moved ahead from aphase to another, a rising mismatch of channel preferences and increasing difficulties of communicationbetween governmental entities and citizens came to the surface, reference number [19], the fact that




48

stimulated the prospect for multiple and innovative channels of communication capable of keeping pace withthe demands placed on them.

1-1 Aim and Objectives:

Reacting to current miscommunication challenges and the rising mismatch of channel preferences, thepaper aims at studying the possibility of proposing a model for innovative channels of communications,moving a step toward overcoming these challenges, minimizing the mismatch and increasing e-governmentperformance. For the aim of the research to be attained the following objectives are to be accomplished:

- Exploring miscommunication challenges in e-government projects and investigating thereasonability of searching for new channels of communication.

- Deriving the main attributes of the demanded innovative channels.

- Sketching a draft model of video-mediated and live interaction based channels, investigating howthese channels can be design and implemented.

1-2 Methodology:

For the aim of the research to be attained, the motives that stimulate the demand for innovative channelsof communication are presented, current miscommunication and mismatch challenges of existing channelsare explored, the opportunities offered by the rapid advancement of computer and networking technologiesare introduced, prospects toward innovative channels are highlighted, and the lessons learnt from theCommunicative Home (comHOME) application are briefly introduced. In a following part, the mainattributes of the demanded innovative channels are derived from the reviewed literature. Upon completion ofaddressing these attributes, a draft model is sketched and how the proposed innovative channels can bedesigned and implemented is briefly discussed.

1-3 Scope and Limitations:

In this paper, the reasonability of looking for innovative channels capable of overcoming currentmiscommunication and mismatch challenges, their main attributes, and possibilities of applications arestudied; while the design and implementation of these channels as well as the technical requirements neededremain the issue of another work. As for the type of services provided by the e-government and delivered bycitizens, the paper stresses only on the interactive category of services, as they are intended to be stronglyaffected by the offered innovative communication channels; rather than the informational and transactionalcategories. As a reference point, a scope is given to Dubai e-Government (DEG) as a leading project in theMiddle East region; i.e. DEG has been internationally recognized as the 21st in the world according to theUnited Nations study conducted in 2001, and the 9th in the world in Privacy & Security and 18th in theworld in Digital Governance according to the E-Governance Institute/National Center for productivity byRutgers University in 2003, reference number [2]. As shown in figure 3, the approach, scope, aim,methodology, target and mission of the research are briefly introduced.

2- WHY INNOVATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANNELS?

"… studies should focus not only on whether agencies have a Web site and the volume ofinformation and services available on e-government sites, but also on the way the sites deliverthose information resources and services to the individual user and on how the Web sites servethe needs of entire communities of users within society…Researchers who study e-governmentalso have a key role to play in fostering user-centered e-government. By turning the focus ofresearch toward the interactions between e-government Web sites and the users of those sites,researchers can help to identify best practices in creating and maintaining user-centered e-government Web sites and can help to find new ways to improve the process of developing user-centered e-government sites", reference number [4].

In investigating what stimulates the interest in searching for innovative channels of communication,three key motives appeared to be the most notable: challenges of existing communication channels, the risingprospects toward innovative channels and therefore better communication, and the opportunities offered due




49

to continuous and rapid advancements in computer and networking technologies. In this part of the paperthese three motives are spotlighted.

2-1 Challenges of Existing Communication Channels:

In a study done by Ebbers et al, reference number [8], types of services, different characteristics ofchannel types and various modes of interaction are analyzed, figure 4. As argued in the study, there is a gabbetween the communication channels governments prefer and those that citizens prefer. Governments preferwebsite based channels being guided by rational arguments like the cost efficiency of channels. On thecontrary, citizens prefer front desk and phone, especially for conversation and consultation, the fact thatpoints to a gap in the preferences both sides have towards service channel management. Similarly, recentstudies from Switzerland (Berner Fachhochschule & Unisys, 2005), Canada (Erin Research, 2003), Australia(Australian Government, 2005), and The Netherlands (Bongers et al., 2004) showed the dominance of frontdesk and phone as the most preferred communication channel types, reference number [8], table 1.

Figure 3: The approach, scope, aim, methodology, target and mission of the research

APPROACH:WHERE ARE E-GOVERNMENT

PROJECTS?& WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

SCOPE:

Channels of Communications

OPPORTUNITIES: CONTINUOUS

ADVANCEMENTS INCOMPUTER ANDNETWORKINGTECHNOLOGIES. LESSONS LEARNT

FROM COMHOME,COMZONES, VIDEO-

CHALLENGES: COMPLEXITY

ANDAMBIGUITY OFSERVICES. COMMUNICATI

ONDIFFICULTIES. PERSONAL

CHALLENGES:AGE,ILLITERACY,..ETC MISMATCH OF

PREFERENCEBETWEEN

PROSPECTS: MULTIPLE

INNOVATIVECHANNELS. ENABLEMENT. COSTUMER-CENTRIC

METHODOLOGY:INTEGRATING CURRENT COMMUNICATIONCHANNELS WITH THE ADVANCEMENTS INCOMPUTER AND NETWORKINGTECHNOLOGIES, BENEFITING FROM

TARGET:a draft model of multiple

innovativecommunication channel

MISSION:DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

AIM:STUDYING THE POSSIBILITY OFRATIONALLY REACT TO THE POSEDCHALLENGES, ENABLING THE OFFEREDOPPORTUNITIES, AND MOVING A STEP

TECHNICALINSTALLATIONS

SPATIALCONFIGURATIONS

CLASSIFICATIONOF SERVICES

IN THISRESEAR

CH

FUTUREWORK

OPPORTUNITIES &CHALLENGES




50

Source: Ebbers et al (2007)

Figure 4: Types of services, channel modes and channel types

Table 1: Percentage of channel preference


In explaining why a certain channel of communication is preferred by citizens, 3 key factors seemed toannounce themselves: personal factors, task and problem factors, and situational factors. Age andeducational level are argued the most influential personal factors. As for the task and problem factors,complexity and ambiguity are argued important determinants of channel preference. According to theAustralian findings (Australian Government, 2005), users prefer the Internet for low complex and lowambiguous problems and face-to-face interaction for high complex and high ambiguous problems. Thesituational factors; such as the date and time of transactions, the availability of channel, and the need forclosure, are disputed to strongly affect the channels preferred by citizens. As for the government, success ofe-commerce, new public management, cost reduction, better performance, and greater transparency areargued the rational motives behind the preference of the website based channels, references numbers [20],[22] and [25]. To overcome the mismatch, Ebbers et al, reference number [8], have built a new multi-channelmanagement model containing three channel types and two channel modes, figure 5.


Figure 5: Ebbers et al proposed multichannel management model




51

In Dubai e-government project, as a reference point, the mismatch of preferences between front deskand phone channel types and website based types is noticed severe and meaningful. As shown in figures 6and 7, online chat and e-mails are noticed far below expectation comparatively with telephone calls. Asdocumented in Dubai eGovernment 2006 4th quarter report, the number of requested online text chats wasonly 54 and the handled e-mails comprised for 793 emails, where the total number of answered calls reached34250, reference number [6].

Source: www.dubai.ae

Figure 6: The Interface of 'ask Dubai' e-service

Source: DEG (2006)

Figure 7: The disparity between communicationchannels in Dubai e-Government

2-2 Prospects toward Innovative Channels:

Studies of the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) have shown that e-services are, onaverage, 20 times less expensive than face-to-face services, reference number [22], not to mention theimproving service levels, the increased transparency, and the greater convenience, references numbers [20]and [25]; the fact that explain why in recent years there has been increasing pressure on governmentalentities as well as the private sector for better e-government performance. What is meant by betterperformance is not just more efficient and effective government but better customer services and better waysof interaction with citizens, reference number [10].

"…the impact of e-government at its broadest level is simply better government, better policyoutcomes, higher quality services, and greater engagement with citizens… Government websitesshould show citizens that their involvement matters by developing feedback mechanisms andencouraging their use" reference number [10].

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), citizen satisfaction with e-governmentshould not decline; otherwise e-government would be losing ground to its private sector counterparts. Thedecline in online satisfaction shows that the government may be losing an opportunity to get the most out ofits most efficient channel and to enhance citizen perceptions of the service government is providing.Therefore, loyalty should be assigned to website based channels and online interactions, references numbers[9] and [12].

"As e-government Web sites have become such a prevalent part of interactions betweengovernments and citizens, user-centered e-government should rise in priority. With everincreasing levels of government information and services moving online, and with manygovernment agencies having the ultimate goal of offering many functions exclusively online,agencies need to design e-government Web sites to ensure that universal access is afforded tothe users of the sites", reference number [4].

In a study done by Paul T. Jaeger (in press), it is demonstrated that many e-government websitesinsufficiently consider the needs of not just users with disabilities, but of all users. Contact informationprovided by websites is an apt example of this lack of consideration of users. For websites to be user-centered, user feedback is essential. Gaps in communication are not a small issue, as users are best able toidentify functionality, usability and accessibility problems on a site.

In addressing where e-government projects are going, innovative multiple channels are disputed centralto development proposals and future prospects. In DEG, as an example, e-services are intended to beprovided through multiple innovative channels in a customer-centric manner. The target is to enhance theoverall quality and support enablement, reference number [19]. Summing up, functionality, usability,




52

accessibility, enablement, innovativeness of communication channels can be considered perceptibleindications of consideration and regard, which any user-centered e-government should pay attention to.

3-2 Advancements in Computer and Networking Technologies

"While Information Society developments are placing new pressures on government, ICTs areat the same time enhancing its capacity for improved performance", reference number [10].

In this part of the paper, advancements in computer and networking technologies are briefly introduced;as far as they would contribute to deriving the attributes of the demanded communication channels.

3-2-1 Rapidly Increasing Computer Capacity and Network Bandwidth

"When the PC was first introduced in the early 1980s, who could ever expect the use of PCs tobecome what it is today?" reference number [5].

Computer technology is developing towards micromation, super powerful function, intelligentizationand networking. Human-machine interface is becoming more friendly. New technology, new material andnew design principle will trig the revolution of super computer technology. In parallel, electronic technologyis seen to have revolutionary progress. As an example, IT chip RAM capacity doubled every 18 months inaverage and the evolution speed of integrated degree has raised from 4 times every 3 years to 4 times every 2years, and the 21st century will be the period for its real rapid development. Further, there are around 300,000kinds of new materials registered in the world, with a growth rate of 5% every year; such as the 3Gsemiconductor materials. In addition, fibre optic material, as the best information transmission media, has anoverall trend of developing towards low consumption and low nonlinearity.

At present, Audio/video frequency technology is the most active and the most rapidly developedtechnology in the high-tech field. Modern communication technology is developing towards digitalized,intelligent and broad-brand orientations. Modern communication technology mainly includes carriercommunication, satellite communication and mobile communication technologies. Satellite communicationis moving towards the world covered broadband personal system. It is estimated that transmission rate ofinter-satellite laser communication will reach 40Gb/s before year 2010. Optic fiber communication willdevelop towards high capacity, high speed and distant communications. Transmission technology has beentransited from traditional synchro system of point-to-point transmission to synchro system of open opticinterface. Optic transmission net will be the developing direction of communication net in the future.

Combination of wireless and wired communication technology is the new development trend. The thirdgeneration (3G) communication technology is the new wireless technology developed in very fast speed. 3Gis characterized by fast transmission of information, and according to the present developing status, it willreach 2Mbps (2 million bit per second), about 35 times of telephone dialup, and even 200 times of thecurrent general mobile phone. Based on this speed, not only the e-mail, but also the high quality video andsound effect will be easily presented. To use mobile phone for Internet browsing, image transmission andeven sharing data, audio frequency and ideas with equipment will not be just a dream any more. Officeclerks can keep in touch with each other blue-tooth equipment while walking everywhere. Summing up,dialup to the Internet at anytime and anywhere will be possible, reference number [1].

3-2-2 The Rise of Telepresence:

According to reference number [18], there have been many applications showing telepresence to becomea reality. But before talking about these applications, one should know what presence, telepresence andpresence at a distance mean. Presence can be defined as 'the sense of being a part of an environment'(Freeman et al, 2001), while telepresence can be considered 'the sensation of being at the remote worksiterather than at the operator's control station' (Minsky, 1980; Held & Durlach, 1992). In other words,presence at a distance is defined as 'the subjective experience of being in one place or environment, evenwhen one is physically situated in another'.

Via adopting the principles embraced by these definitions, numerous applications have come to the surface,rationally reacting to existing communication challenges and notably enabling a number of opportunities. Among theseapplications is the 'Ambient Telepresence: Colleague Awareness in Smart Environments' where informal awareness indistributed collaborative work is supported, to promote a sense of presence of people who are in fact not co-located.




53

Information is transmitted to remote sites, where it is rendered for peripheral awareness, reference number [13]. Furtherapplications; such as the 'Video-Mediated Communication in the Classroom to Support Sick Children: A Case Study'(Deborah, Fels1 & Patrice), 'Towards Multi-Site Collaboration in Tele-Immersive Environments', reference number[23], 'Private and Public Spaces; the Use of Video Mediated Communication in a Future Home Environment' and 'UserStudy of Video Mediated Communication in the Domestic Environment with Intellectually Disabled Persons',references numbers [15] and [16], are argued capable to produce the sense of reality at a distance across networks.

As a new medium that creates 3D photorealistic, immersive and interactive experience betweengeographically dispersed users supporting two-way collaboration, telepresence is gained wider acceptance asan important and effective instructional tool, (Gowan & Downs, 1994; Benford et. al., 1998) in: referencenumber [11]. As a result, traditional activities experienced a level of telepresence shifting into thesynchronous/remote mode of communication, and the use of the terms tele-working, tele-education, tele-learning, tele-medicine, tele-conferencing, references numbers [3] and [21], virtual marriage, andsynchronous virtual communicative spaces has become commonplace, reference number [18], figure 9.

Tele-conferencing

Synchronous virtual communicative spaces Virtual marriage

Source: (Knudsen et al 2002)

Figure 9: Applications of telepresence

3-2-3 Learning from the comHOME:

The communicative home (comHOME)application is a solution for the integration of VideoMediated Communication (VMC) into the homeenvironment. The comHOME can be considered aconcept dwelling of the future designed and built as afull-scale model in collaboration with a telecomoperator. The principal problem investigated is thevarious aspects of private and public zones whenusing VMC in a home environment, referencesnumbers [15] and [16]. The solution concerns theintegration of different communicative zones(comZONES), where the resident can be seen andheard at different levels varying in time and space,figure 10.

Source: Junestrand et al (2003)

Figure 10: WorkSPACE and redesigning the homebuilt spaces

The different comZONES are expressed by technical solutions such as screens and cameras but also bythe use of architecture; i.e. spatial forms, colors, light, and materials. The architectural space can then, incombination with ICT solutions, form an interface to the digital world. The technical design of the video andaudio space in the comHOME is based on several short-range cameras and microphones being mapped and




54

routed through a common media switch. The issue here is to support telepresence based activities such astele-working, tele-conferencing, tele-celebration and tele-communication. On the perspective of thedemanded video mediated and live interaction based communication channels, the lessons learnt from thecomHOME application can be summarized as follows:

- ComHOME application is seen to effectively exploit ICTs to create communicative spaces in apractical manner; opening the door on further applications and developments.

- It is possible to integrate architecture closely with ICTs formulating what has been termedcomZONES to support remote and synchronous communication.

- The application is argued to prove well and serve many purposes; i.e. tele-work, tele-conferencingand tele-celebration, via adopting four different scenarios: workSPACE, videoTORSO,comTABLE, mediaSPACE in four different built spaces according to the varying contexts, figure11.

- The comHOME application is extremely focusing on the user; mostly those living in it (user-centric approach), providing the ground on which strong social relationships among familymembers and scattered families can exist.

- As the teamwork argued, the development of new VMC set-ups for built environments should beclosely linked to the general design of a smart architecture, both from the user and producerperspective.

workSPACE videoTORSO

comTABLE mediaSPACE

Source: Junestrand et al (2003)

Figure 11: Four different scenarios in the comeHOME

3- A VIDEO-MEDIATED AND LIVE INTERACTION BASED COMMUNICATION CHANNELS- APROPOSED MODEL:

In this part of the paper, the main attributes of the demanded communication channels, which are able toovercome existing challenges and contribute to e-government performance, are derived, and a draft model ofvideo-mediated and live interaction based communication channels is sketched.

3-1 Key Attributes of the Demanded Channels:

"To move forward and develop universally accessible, usable, and functional e-governmentservices, there is a need to… understand that user demands, needs, and requirements for e-government services and resources will vary, change, and become increasingly sophisticatedover time. Functionality, usability, and accessibility are a useful beginning point – not an




55

ending point – for effective user-centered e-government services. Together, they can provideimportant perspectives from the actual users of e-government services" references number [4].

Based on the reviewed literature and being stimulated by existing miscommunication challenges, theprospects for innovative channels and the demand for better role of websites, being geared by the rapid andsteady advancements in computer and networking technologies, and learning from the numerous integratedapplications of telepresence, the key attributes of the demanded communication channels are derived.However, these attributes can be classified into three broad categories; having strong correlation to thegovernment, the citizen and the communication process. On the government perspective, the website is totake the priority over front desk and phone, having the capability to support real-time feedback, costreduction, transparency and better performance. In view of citizens, the demanded channel should beattractive, satisfactory and user-centered, supporting better communication and paying more attention to thedisable. On the communication perspective, the channel is to be innovative, interactive, accessible,functional, multiple, integrated, website-based, telepresence-oriented, more than text chat, appropriate forcomplex and ambiguous situations, reduce mismatches of preference, and keep pace with computer andnetworking technology.

3-2 VIDEO-MEDIATED AND LIVE INTERACTION BASED CHANNELS: A PROPOSED MODEL

The main idea of the proposed model is to incorporate the face; either the face of the employee only in adownloadable video material, or the faces of both the employee and the citizen in telepresence-oriented liveinteraction through networks; videoconference based interaction. Videoconferencing technology implieshaving a camera per participant; transmitting the image and voice to all the others. Here it is not just a videoconferencing for chatting; it is a way to provide and deliver e-services. Therefore, the proposed modelappears to support moving a step towards overcoming the barriers of traditional keyboard-and-mousecomputing, offering an innovative way of communication and interaction between the service providers anddelivers. In this context, the traditional face-to-face relationship between employees and citizens; thatmanaged to experience a level of informational mode shifting into the display-to-display prototype, seems tobe resorted in an unconventional format through innovative communication channels; telepresence face-to-face, figure 12. Although the transmission quality is often poor due to limited bandwidth, we should separateproblems that are solvable with increasing computational power and faster networks from those that areinherent in the communication channel (Cooperstock; Fels; Buxton & Smith).

"The face is an extraordinarily rich communication channel and a detailed face conveys a vastamount of subtle information, whether we wish for it to do so or not" [7].

It speaks for itself that the proposed draft model is far from complete. As the model holds multipledimensions, it needs further developments; i.e. readdressing the offered opportunities and the imposedchallenges in view of the local context, classifying e-services according to the degree of complexity andambiguity, estimating the technical requirements needed, and investigating the spatial configurations. Yet,without a theoretical framework to examine these dimensions, the paper is to stimulate further research in thedirection of settling these issues helping the model to move a step forward.

4- CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK:

In this paper, a draft model of video mediated and live interaction based communication channels issketched. The aim is to overcome existing communication challenges; i.e. miscommunication challenges andmismatch of channel preferences between the government and its citizens. For the aim to be attained, thepaper is divided into three parts. In the first part, an introduction is given, highlighting the aim, methodologyand scope of the work. In the second part, challenges of existing communication channels, the risingprospects toward innovative channels, and advancements in computer and networking technologies areintroduced as the influential motives that stimulated the research. In the third part, key attributes of thedemanded channels are derived and the draft model is sketched. As mentioned in the body of the paper, theproposed draft model can not be limited to what have been explored in this research, the fact that shows theneed for further research to become crucial. In response to that, the paper is proposed to be extended in, butnot limited to, four directions; readdressing the offered opportunities and the imposed challenges in view ofthe local context, classifying e-services according to the degree of complexity and ambiguity, estimating thetechnical requirements needed, and investigating the spatial configurations, to become the issues of futurework.




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`

Figure 12: Video-mediated and live interaction based communication channels: a proposed model

COMMUNICATIONPERSPECTIVE

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EMPLOYEES AND CITIZENS




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1- REFERENCES:

[1] "Advancement and Development Prospect of IT", TODO Network. Cited in :www.ecdc.net.cn/newindex/chinese/page/sitemap/reports/IT_report/english/01/03.htm

[2] Al Bastaki, Mahmood (2007) "Dubai e-Government Achievements & Upcoming Challenges". Dubai: Dubai e-government.

[3] Allan, Mary and Thorns, David (2007) "Access Grid and Video Conferencing as Real Life Simulation". eResearch Australasia2007, Brisbane.

[4] Bertota, John Carlo & Jaegerb Paul T. (2006) 'User-centered e-government: Challenges and benefits for government Web sites'.Government Information Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 2 , 2006, Pages 163-168.

[5] Bjorkdahl, Per (1999) ‘Implementations and Challenges Facing The Intelligent Building Industry’, Sweeden: TA Control PteLtd. Cited in: http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/sep99/articles/tacc/tacc.htm (15-06-2005).

[6] DEG (2006) "2006 Q4 Report: Dubai eGovernment eServices Division", Dubai eGovernment, UAE: Dubai.

[7] Donath, Judith (2001) "Mediated Faces". Computer Science; Vol. 2117 archiveProceedings of the 4th International Conference on Cognitive Technology: Instruments of Mind.

[8] Ebbers, W. E., et al., Electronic government: Rethinking channel management strategies, Government Information Quarterly(2007), doi:10.1016/j.giq.2006.11.003

[9] 'E-Government Citizen Satisfaction Declines for Third Straight Quarter' (2007), American Customer Satisfaction Index. Citedin: http://www.theacsi.org/images/stories/images/govsatscores/e-gov_1207_press_release.pdf

[10] 'eGovernment: More Than an Automation of Government Services' (2003), Information Society Commission.

[11] Fels, Deborah I. & Weiss, Patrice L. (2001) "Video-mediated communication in the classroom to support sick children: A casestudy'. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Volume 28, Number 5, November 2001 , pp. 251-263(13)

[12] Freed, Larry (2004) 'E-Government Satisfaction Index'. American Customer Satisfaction Index.

[13] Gellersen, Hans-W & Beigl Michael (1999) "Ambient Telepresence: Colleague Awareness in Smart Environments". Germany:University of Karlsruhe. Cited in: http://www.teco.uni-karlsruhe.de/~michael/publication/manse.pdf

[14] Jaeger, P. T. (in press) "Assessing Section 508 compliance on federal e-government websites: A multi-method, user-centeredevaluation of the accessibility of e-government", Government Information Quarterly.

[15] Junestrand, S., Keijer, U., Molin, G. & Tollmar, K. (2003) 'User Study of Video Mediated Communication in the DomesticEnvironment with Intellectually Disabled Persons'. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 2003, Volume 15,Number 1, pp. 87-103. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA.

[16] Junestrand, S. and Tollmar, K. (1999) "Video Mediated Communication for Domestic Environments - Architectural andTechnological Design". In Streitz et al. (eds.) Proceedings Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1670, Springer-Verlag Berlin,Heidelberg, Germany.

[17] Junestrand, S. and Tollmar, K. (1998) The Dwelling as a Place for Work. In Streiz et al (eds.), Proceedings, Lecture Notes inComputer Science, 1370, Springer- Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany.

[18] Knudsen, Claus; Naeve, Ambjörn & Handberg; Leif (2002) "Video Mediated Communication Producing a sense of presencebetween individuals in a shared virtual reality", ISEC conference. Canada: Calgary

[19] Lootah, Rehab & Geray, Okan (2006) "Dubai eGovernment Case Study". OECD/UNDP Meeting.

[20] Pascual, Patricia (2003) 'E-Government'. Philippines: e-ASEAN Task Force and Malaysia: the UNDP Asia PacificDevelopment Information Program.

[21] Tonkin, Emma L. & Tourte, Gregory J. L. (2007) "Video Streaming: Remote Participation and Engagement in the ConferenceEnvironment", IADIS – Web Based Communities. SPAIN: Salamanca.

[22] Van Dijk J.A.G.M. (1999) "The network society, social aspects of new media". London: Thousand Oaks.

[23] Wuy,Wanmin; Yangy, Zhenyu; Nahrstedty, Klara; Kurilloz, Gregorij; & Bajcsy, Ruzena (2007) "Towards Multi-SiteCollaboration in Tele-Immersive Environments", MM'07. Germany: Augsburg, Bavaria. ACM 978-1-59593-701-8/07/0009.

[24] www.dubai.ae

[25] Yildiz, Mete (2003) "E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward". Department of PoliticalScience and Public Administration, Government Information Quarterly, Volume 24, Issue 3, July 2007, Pages 646-665.


1-14 Saudi Aramco Healthcare Link (SAHL): The Automation of Interlink Of Medical Services Eng. Saeed O. Amoudi



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1-14 SAUDI ARAMCO HEALTHCARE LINK (SAHL): THE AUTOMATIONOF INTERLINK OF MEDICAL SERVICES BETWEEN SAUDI ARAMCO

AND MEDICAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

Eng. Saeed O. Amoudi

Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi [email protected]


Abstract:

Saudi Aramco Healthcare Link (SAHL) is an Aramco Internet-based application that interlinks allmedical facilities and services providers around the Kingdom with Saudi Aramco’s Healthcare system.SAHL scheme serves more than 300,000 Aramco staff and their families throughout 92 health centre andhospital. It provides quick, secured and reliable services using a combination of various systems.

The introduction of SAHL reduces greatly the amount of hard copy of information that is beingexchanged between Saudi Aramco and the Medical Facilities and services providers. This has thefollowing benefits:

Reduction of the communication time which is spent on sending requests and receiving approvals

Improvement of the accuracy of information being processed.

Improvement of the communication time that spent in verifying data and payment.

Improvement of the referral processes.

Enhancement of capturing medical information of the patient’s

The above benefits has led to an improvement of patient care and safety, and a better vendor-customer relationship between Saudi Aramco and their medical facilities and services partners-in-business. SAHL’s concept and methodologies can be used as a template for any public or private medicalsector which are looking to provide similar applications of the medical services over the Internet.

Keywords:

Saudi Aramco, Healthcare, SAP, Medical, automating

Biography:

Eng. Amoudi graduated from King Fahd University of petroleum and minerals, with B.Sc. incomputer engineering in 2005. Since then he works with Saudi Aramco as a system analyst in HealthcareApplications Division. Eng. Amoudi is a SAP ABAP development certified consultant. He was involvedin developing several Portal, Webdyn Pro and ABAP applications.

He also participated in the preparation of number of technical events including Mawhiba Science &Eng Fair, Robots, and Nano Technology first Lego League.

-2ع بناء ثقافة الخدمات اإللكترونیة وتوعیة المجتم:الثانيلمحور ا-٢ Theme 2: Building the e-Services Culture and Society Awareness of it



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2- Theme 2: Building the e-ServicesCulture and Society Awareness of it

2- Theme 2: Building the eServices Culture and Society Awareness of it

2-1 Is Medium the Massage? Mr. Ahmad Zahidah



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2-1 IS MEDIUM THE MASSAGE?

Mr. Ahmad Zahidah, M. Sc. PGD,

New Media Business ManagerMBC Group

Dubai Media City- UAEEmail: [email protected]


Abstract:

As a mature news broadcaster with over 60 million viewers, the challenge of diving into emergingnew media platforms like WWW, Mobile, IPTV created new set of dilemmas.

The fundamentals of delivering news, like credibility, relevancy, not any longer a crucial questions,as much as the nature of those new platforms. Their distinctive features, abilities, spread, and their users’needs and desires introduce necessary modification into the massage.

In this paper, the question of the impact on the massage to be delivered via new vehicles isinvestigated. Based on practical experience, in Alarabiya News Stations, several models are beingdiscussed. The opportunities and challenges of this new media are forming a framework to share the richexperience of Alarabiya.

In whatever field was your organization functioning, certainly it is delivering a massage.Considering the medium, Alarabiya is sharing in this paper insight into how to tackle your target audiencewith tailored massages.

Keywords:

New Media, Online marketing, Online Advertisement, Content, E-news, usability, Accessibility.

Biography:

Ahmad Zahidah looks after the new media business in MBC Group, the largest Middle Eastbroadcasting organization. He is responsible for commercialization, Marketing that includes the E-commerce platform.

He manages large scale internet project, such as launching social networking web & mobile bases,Digital content, IPTV, VOD in addition to maintain the relationship with advertisers.

Ahmad obtained his M. Sc. In E-business and Post graduate diploma in Interactive technologies forE-commerce from UK, and his B. Sc. in Business Administration from the University of Jordan.

Ahmad consults in Internet, Mobile related projects, as well as design and deliver training relevantfields. His research interests include, Socio- Techno issues, Arabic Usability, Accessibility, E-learning, E-Banking in addition to New Media.


2-2 Introducing Eservices: the Challenge of Managing the Change Eng. Faisal M. Al-Naim



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2-2 INTRODUCING ESERVICES: THE CHALLENGE OFMANAGING THE CHANGE

Eng. Faisal M. Al-Naim, M. Sc., MBA

Administrator, Information Protection CenterSaudi Aramco

Manager of IT Unit of [email protected]


Abstract:

At present, the management of change in the business environment is one of most significantchallenges facing today’s business leaders and the transformation of business services to e-services wouldbe definitely a difficult task to manage. This presentation suggests a systematic approach towards themanagement of change in businesses with particular emphasis on the role of the human factor in thetransformation process. The paper discusses firstly the rapid accelerating change in the businessenvironment and the type of challenge that the change would stimulate.

The presentation demonstrates 23 years of personal experience in technical and administrative fields.It highlights successes, risks and challenges, the presenter has experienced throughout his long career.The presentation would hopefully have a positive impact on attendance’s approach to the changemanagement and it would provide them with the knowledge about the right approach that should befollowed towards managing change in the business environment.

Keywords:

eServices, Business Environment, Change Management, Human Aspects of Change, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Faisal Al-Naim: Graduated from KFUPM with a BSc. in Industrial Management and Informationsystems in 1984. In 1989, Faisal received his MSc. Degree in computer science from California StateUniversity. Three years later, Faisal got his MBA degree from KFUPM. For the past 23 years, Faisal hasbeen working in the IT field. Faisal had worked in the Institute of Public Administration in the areas oftraining, consultation, research, and administration of the computer center. Faisal Joined Saudi Aramco in1991 and had worked in various sections of the IT department. Faisal had spent 6 years in ComputerTraining Group, 4 years in Web Development, 6 years in awareness and risk management, and recentlyhe was assigned as an Administrator of the Information Protection Center. At present, Faisal is leadingthe IT & Communication services in the OPEC Summit. Faisal has 4 internationally recognizedprofessional certifications in information security, e-business, and project management. Mr. Naim hasjust completed his executive training in Duke University this summer. He has participated in themanagement of some non-profit organizations such as the Saudi Computer Society. Faisal deliveredpresentations in tens of national and international professional symposiums and conferences.


2-3 Cyber Law and the Saudi Arabia Kingdom’s Responsibility Mr. Abdu A. Albur



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2-3 CYBER LAW AND THE SAUDI ARABIA KINGDOM’SRESPONSIBILITY

Mr. Abdu A. Albur

IT ManagerGeneral Directorate of Education-Eastern Province

Saudi [email protected]/[email protected]


Abstract:

The Internet penetrates our life in an unprecedented way, it impacts our way of communications withthe outside world. Long distances do not separate people around the world and people can live andcommunicate now in a new world which the cyber world. This world has its political, economic, andsocial rules. In this new world, there is no limitation of space, speed, and interaction. In the real world,rules and laws have been developed from people’s experiences of interaction and communications.Unfortunately, this is not the case in the cyber world. The e-technology has been developed to one of itspeaks without precise regulations, and principles that would punish hackers and potential criminals. Thispaper highlights the history of the cyber law and the efforts of the international agencies to regulate theInternet use. It discusses the responsibility of Saudi Arabia government, and citizens towards the use ofthe cyber world, and the application of the new IT Criminal Law in the Kingdom. These points arehighlighted to attract citizens, government bodies, and the private sector attention to the cyber law whichis disregarded for a long time. On the other hand, there was a dramatic change in the world particularlyafter the 9/11 attack. Cyber law was considered to be an international law which can cross the nationalborders. Anyone is responsible for the cyber crime which he committed in his/ her country or across thenational borders.

Saudis have to be vigilant more than ever, and aware of the precautions that they should undertakewhenever and wherever they virtually navigate in the cyber space. The new Saudi IT Criminal Law andCyber crime Unit constitute a good start point toward the application of effective and practical measuresthat would create a secure e-environment for the citizens of the kingdom.

Keywords:

Cyber law, Saudi Law, Cyber crime, Jurisdiction.

Biography:

Mr. Abdu Ali Albur was born in Taif, Saudi Arabia in July 1965. He graduated from King FahdUniversity of Petroleum and Minerals in 1988, with B.S. in Physics. At present, he doing his Masterdegree in E-commerce at University of Maryland in U.S.A. Mr. Albur works as an IT manager in theGeneral Directorate of Education in the Eastern Province. He participated in many national andinternational educational conferences. He is a member of the "National Geographic Society ".





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1- INTRODUCTION

The Internet was originally created by the U.S. government to protect its military infrastructure from anuclear strike. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was created primarily to deliver thispromise, and from within this project came the first interconnected system, ARPANET, in 1969 (Marsden,2001; Napier, Judd, Rivers, & Adams, 2003). However, the real age of cyberspace began in the early 1990s,fueled by the development of the World Wide Web and the statutory authority granted to the NationalScience Foundation (NSF) to commercialize what was then called the NSFNET. Cyberspace is defined as avirtual, non-physical, space based on software code and on information and communication exchange; itpermits the exchange of digital products and information goods such as music, computer code, money, textand video (Marsden, 2001). Cyberspace includes the Internet and also commercial online services, privatedatabases, and private networks. The Internet itself today includes e-mail, the World Wide Web, file transferprotocol (FTP), newsgroups (Usenet), and Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

There is no question that the information technology revolution has opened up new opportunities,previously thought to be impossible, by its ability to compress and bypass time and space. Being in twoplaces at once, or at two times at once is no magic in cyberspace. In other words, being online means thatyou are everywhere and are able to interact with others, in real time and with equal opportunities. You canhave your own identity, create a new one at your preference, or be anonymous. All this can take place withno fear of surveillance, legal intervention, or public retribution, which normally accompanies our interactionin the physical space. This situation raises an important question about the regulation of content and behaviorin cyberspace.

The Internet is a creation of governments and educational institutions, and continues to be regulated bygovernments and with private corporations as a proxy for governmental agencies. However, there is growingevidence indicating that cyberspace may no longer be as open and free of supervision as it used to be. Withthe increased popularity of the Internet, the demand for greater structure is also gaining momentum; there isan intensified push for a more reliable level of security and law regulations. And the change, though slow, isaway from the Internet-free-concept, not towards it.

The world economy is becoming more competitive, more global, and increasingly dominated byinformation and communications technology (ICT). Many governments believe that e-commerce isessentially a global, rather than a national, issue and that it is important to monitor e-commerce developmentcarefully to ensure consistency with their own policies. In addition to this, the Internet is driving aninevitable political, economic, and social integration both locally and globally. This requires the integrationof the disciplines of law and economics with international relations, which will ultimately lay the foundationof the cyberlaw. To assert this trend, many initiatives have been taken by organizations such as Organizationfor Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in a cryptography conference of October 1998 and theUnited Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in a Model Law on ElectronicCommerce. Furthermore, many countries are willing to insert the WTO into e-commerce issues asauthentication, commercial contracts, privacy, consumer protection and content regulations (Marsden, 2001).

In the early days of the Internet, the self-regulation idea prevailed and had good support from Internetusers, interest groups and other nongovernmental agencies, such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs).Individual Internet users could monitor their own use and that of others, prevent malicious acts and reportharmful materials on the Internet. Parents could control their children's browsing manners and use manyavailable software products to protect their children’s privacy. And ISPs could establish a code of conduct towhat they offered to their subscribers. However, the Internet is no longer controllable by individuals andinterest groups. The number of Internet users is increasing tremendously (more than one billion according tothe latest figures (Table 1)), and consequently cybercrimes are in a continuous rise. The ethical code ofconduct is not enough to deter perpetrators or to stop them from committing their crimes.

Table 1: Internet Industry Perspectives (Internet Industry Perspectives, 2004).

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010Worldwide Internet users (#M) 0.015 2.1 45.1 420 1050 1700





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If moral, ethical, and legal boundaries that define and regulate our behavior in the physical world are notdefined in the virtual world, what forms of regulations should be implemented to curb illegal activities in thecyberspace? Are there effective bodies patrolling and regulating the cyberspace with a mission to protectvulnerable and incent people and to enforce the law? What are the responsibilities of the Saudi governmentand its citizens in this new cyber world? And how can we alert our citizens, government agencies, and theprivate sector about cyber laws? This paper will address these questions in relation to three main areas ofconcern to the Kingdom. First, it will consider the various means of regulation, governmental or private,national or international, that are currently in place, and the Saudi bodies fighting computer-related crimes.Second, the paper will highlight the IT Criminal Law recently approved by the Shoura Council and issued bythe Kingdom Council of Ministers. One of the most important articles of this law imposes imprisonment notto exceed 10 years and a fine no more than SR5 million, or any of the two punishments, of any persondeveloping a Web site for terrorist organizations on the Internet, or on a computer (Yesser, 2007). Finally,the paper will outline the main crimes that are committed using the Internet and how these crimes areaddressed by the IT Criminal law.

2- INTERNET AND CYBERCRIME REGULATIONS

The Internet has transformed societies' commercial and communication fabric, and created a new law -cyberlaw - for its new world - cyberspace. Today, the emphasis is shifting from a borderless Internet toborderless law. In the first stages of cyberlaw regulations, it was visualized that by entering cyberspace aperson would literally enter a new jurisdiction. The inhabitants would govern this new space, and the authorsadvocated a decentralized, self-regulatory model in which Internet users created rules best suited to theirneeds (Geist, 2003). It was not until 1990 when a broad level of international consensus emerged about somebasic principles for the governance of cyberspace. And technologies facilitating geographic identificationhave enabled both business and government to bring geographic borders to the online environment. Withnew technologies that are capable of identifying the exact location of a user, such as EdgeScape and Quova,the Internet is fast becoming a bordered medium that varies noticeably depending upon geographic locationof the user. For example, Google, the world's most popular search engine, has acknowledged usinggeographic identification technologies to meet variations in local laws by delivering different search resultsto users in different countries.

2-1 Cyberlaw Jurisdiction

Sklyarov is a Russian programmer who designed a software program that decrypts the encryption usedby Adobe in its e-book software. When he visited Las Vegas, NV in July 2001 to present a paper on thestrengths and weaknesses of software used to protect electronic books, the American authorities arrestedhim. He was charged with violating the American Copyright Act, and if convicted he could face up to 25years in prison, and fines up to $ 2.25 million. The Anti-cyber-squatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) isanother example on borderless cyberlaw. For example, an American court in Virginia ordered thecancellation of a domain name -- globalsantafe.com – that took precedence over an order from a Koreancourt blocking the local registrar from effecting the cancellation. The court then ordered VeriSign, whichmaintains the root server, to override the local registrar by deleting the domain in question from the rootserver (Geist, 2003). In a survey conducted by McConnell International, LLC, hundreds of companies, largeand small, in all business sectors in 45 countries, were asked how they perceive and deal with legal-jurisdictional uncertainties and risks in their Internet activities and which jurisdictional issues posed thegreatest concern. The first on the list was litigation and jurisdictional risks (McConnell International, 2000).

In the United States, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) applies to commercial Websites and online services in any state or foreign nation. And in May 2002, the European Union's Article 29Data Protection Working Party released a document that assessed the international application of the E.U.data protection law to personal data processed on the Internet by non-E.U. based Web sites (Geist, 2003).Furthermore, The PATRIOT Act extended the U.S. government's ability to prosecute criminals involved incybercrimes that are used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce or communication of theUnited States, even if the activity in question may be lawful within its country of origin. Similarly,Malaysia's Computer Crimes Act, which took effect in 2000, includes extra-territorial provisions that stateclearly that " the provisions of this act shall, in relation to any person, whatever his nationality or citizenship,





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have effect outside as well as within Malaysia" (Geist, 2003). Nevertheless, the question remains: Why is itso easy to commit crimes in the cyberspace?

2-1 Cybercrimes

Cybercrimes can be broadly classified into two categories: new crimes using Internet-based tools (suchas hacking and planting viruses), and old crimes using new cyber tools (fraud, identity thefts, stalking, etc.),(Jewkes, 2002). Regarding the easiness in committing cybercrimes: first, the new forms of communicationsthat the Internet creates and the relative anonymity that it permits have made it easy to commit cybercrimes.Second, the Internet has provided offenders with a range of new opportunities for committing traditionalcriminal activities on a global scale. Third, the Internet has created some entirely new criminal opportunitieswhich have generated novel forms of behavior on a global scale.

2-2 Some Serious Cybercrimes:

This is a list of major cybercrime categories:

Trespassing or hacking/cracking: the unauthorized access of computer systems where rights ofownership or title have already been established. A distinction is increasingly being made in theliterature between the principled trespasser – the hacker – and the unprincipled trespasser – thecracker;

Acquisition and deception: often referred to as cyber-theft, this category describes the differenttypes of acquisitive harm that can take place in cyberspace, such as identity theft and intellectualproperty right infringements;

Pornography/obscenity: the trading of sexually expressive materials within cyberspace, which mayinclude the exploitation of minors; and

Violence/hate crimes: describes the violent impact of the cyber-activities of the perpetrator upon anindividual, or a social or political grouping, such as defamation (Ball and Webster, 2003).

2-3 Examples: identity theft and spyware

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in many countries. An identity theft occurs when the criminalobtains confidential information from an individual or business and uses it to access private financialaccounts. According to Brody, Mulig and Kimball (2007), 53 million identities have already been stolen and19 thousand more are stolen every day in the U.S. Companies, on average, spend 1,600 work hours perincident at a cost of $40,000 to $92,000 per victim. Furthermore, U.S. losses have reached approximately$52.6 billion per year. And since the Internet is a global environment, this type of crime will reach everycorner of the cyberspace. To shed some light on this important issue, these are some of the e-threats to youridentity:

Phishing: a person gets an e-mail that appears to be from his bank or an online service instructinghim to click on a link and provide information to verify his account;

Pharming or spoofing: hackers redirect a legitimate Web site's traffic to an impostor site, where theperson is asked to provide confidential information;

Smishing: this is phishing done with text messaging on the person's smart phone instructing him tovisit a bogus Web site;

Spyware: a user unknowingly downloads illicit software when he/she opens an attachment, clickson a pop-up or downloads a song or a game (refer to the second paragraph for more detail);

Vishing -- voice phishing: the person gets an automated phone message asking him to call his bankor credit card company; and

Bank-card skimming: perpetrators use a combination of a fake ATM slot and cameras to record theperson's account information and ID when he uses a cash machine. His credit or debit card also canbe skimmed by a dishonest store or restaurant worker armed with a portable card reader.

On the other hand, spyware is defined as software that collects information about a user activity whenvisiting a Web site. This type of monitoring poses a serious privacy risk because spyware can secretlycapture and transmit a user's personal information and passwords typed in online transactions. Spyware isoften classified into four types of software: system monitors, Trojans, adware, and tracking cookies. Spyware





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legislation should address the most widespread and flagrant problems by introducing laws against adware,deceptive and harmful software installation and operation, and fraud and other criminal acts accomplishedthrough spyware (Sun, 2007).

2-4 Cyberlaw and Government Regulations

The nature of modern communications, including the Internet, makes international cooperation in cyber-security of increasing importance. The perpetrators of many recent cybercrimes, such as the distributeddenial-of-service (DoS) attacks in February 2000, were hackers in foreign countries. For example, theprogrammer who spread the I Love You virus, which caused over $10 billion in damage around the world,was not prosecuted in the Philippines because that country lacked adequate criminal laws. And because hedid not violate Philippine law, the double criminality principle precluded him from being extradited to othercountries pursuant to general extradition treaties (Personick & Patterson, 2003).

The recent case of U.S. v. Gorshkov, in which an FBI agent conducted a cross-border search of aRussian computer to obtain evidence to indict a Russian citizen on extortion charges, is an example of howcourts look at cross-border searches in the current environment and how it might become the norm in theabsence of formal international coordination. Increasing cross-border criminal activity highlights the need forcommon international standards and objectives for cyber-security. Different countries have different lawsand practices, making prosecution of these criminals very difficult (Personick & Patterson, 2003).

Governments are more than ever involved in Internet regulations. For example, The Internet Corporationfor Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was considered a self-regulatory body in which the stakeholdersgoverned themselves, free from government interference. However, the European Union recommended thatICANN always consult governments on policy matters, and that it should be able to ignore or reversegovernmental advice only by a two-thirds vote of its board (Geist, 2003). The regulatory bodies of theInternet, such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) andICANN, started as self-regulated bodies and with minimal direct government interference, but neverthelessare governmental funded agencies (Marsden, 2001).

2-5 Who are in charge?

The Internet is not a free ride anymore. There are technical, ethical, and judicial regulations governingits practices. These are some important regulatory bodies setting the Internet general rules:

Governments: in general governments maintain tight control over the flow of information and theonline interaction that takes place in their countries, powered by political leaders, legislativebodies, and courts desired to enforce law and discipline in the cyberspace;

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): ISPs continue to serve as gatekeepers to cyberspace; Local Telephone Companies: telephone companies still serve—along with the ISPs—as major

gatekeepers to cyberspace. And the emergence of digital subscriber line (DSL) services may serveto enhance the role of telephone companies in this context;

Builders and Custodians of the Internet Backbone: backbone lines are the high-speed fiber opticcables that transfer information through the Internet at speeds that can reach 155 million bits persecond. While major telecommunications companies own most of the high-speed fiber optic linesand lease these lines to other backbone firms, no single company or group controls the entirenetwork. The backbone system also consists of large hubs through which all the high-speed linesmerge to reroute billions of packets of data and sends them either to a requesting Internet serviceprovider or to another hub for further rerouting.

On the other hand, these are some agencies that set the technical and self-regulatory rules andregulations:

1 Internet Society (ISOC): sees itself as the ambassador of the Internet and works to assure theopen development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout theworld;

2 The Internet Architecture Board (IAB): serves as the technical advisory group of the InternetSociety, providing oversight of the process used to create Internet standards, and serves as anappeal board for complaints;





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3 The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF): decides on technical standards for the Internet; theIETF has no power to enforce its recommendations;

4 The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): an international organization that works to maximizethe full potential of the Web by developing common protocols that promote its evolution andensure its interoperability;

5 ICANN: assigns domain names and IP addresses and resolves litigations concerning domainnames conflict if asked to do so by the litigators. ICANN is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation that has responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation,protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domainname system management, and root server system management functions. The Domain NameSystem (DNS) helps users find their way around the Internet. ICANN is responsible forcoordinating the management of the technical elements of the DNS to ensure universalresolvability so that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. ICANN is governed byan internationally diverse Board of Directors overseeing the policy development process. Over80 governments closely advise the Board of Directors via the Governmental AdvisoryCommittee, and the Kingdom is represented by the Communications and InformationTechnology Commission. The Saudi Network Information Centre (SaudiNIC) is responsible forthe administration of the domain name space for the country code of Saudi Arabia; and

6 International Telecommunication Union (ITU): the leading United Nations agency forinformation and communication technologies. Its main task is to promote for internationalcooperation aimed at proposing strategies for solutions to enhance confidence and security inthe information society. It will build on existing national and regional initiatives to avoidduplication of work and encourage collaboration amongst all relevant partners (InternationalTelecommunication Union, 2007).

3- THE INTERNET AND THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA REGULATIONS

According to Hancock (2007), the number of Internet users in the Arab world stood at 26.3 million atthe end of 2005, a stark increase in comparison to 14 million users in 2004 and 4.5 million users in 2002.Furthermore, Arab Internet usage is forecast to double to 50 million by 2009 among the 290 million peoplein the region. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the world's 13th largest merchandise exporter and the 23rdlargest importer, has an estimated population of 24 million (as of end-2004), with around 90% living inurban areas and about 6.5 million of working age. According to the International Telecommunications Union(ITU), there were around 3.7m fixed phone lines at end-2004, equivalent to 15.4% of the population,compared with 14% in 2000. According to the June 2005 report of the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council,the number of Internet users exceeded 2.2m in 2004, up from 350,000 users in 2001, and the number ofsubscribers approached 900,000, representing a penetration rate of about 10% (Saudi Arabia technology,2006). PC ownership by end-2004 represented more than one-third of the population (Table 2). According tothe Economist Intelligence Unit’s e-readiness score, the Kingdom was rated 4.85 (out of a maximum of 10)in 2005, placing it 46th out of 65 countries (Telecoms & technology data, 2006). All these figures indicate abright future for the Internet use and its applications in the Arabic world in general, and in the Kingdom inparticular. At the same time there is a need for more regulations and laws to enhance the effective and safeuse of this technology.

The access to the Internet was made legal in February 1999, and the Kingdom’s first Internet serviceproviders (ISPs) came online shortly afterward. The Communications and Information TechnologyCommission (CITC) is responsible for regulating and supervising the Internet. The Internet Services Unit atthe King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) was monitoring all Internet traffic andbarred access to sites considered inappropriate. The government decided in 2003 to shift the responsibilityfor regulating and supervising the Internet from KACST to the Communications and InformationTechnology Commission (Saudi Arabia technology, 2006). This move was necessary to impose moreeffective technical regulations and efficient laws to govern the cyberspace in the Kingdom and to harmonizemany initiatives to regulate the Internet both from government and private sectors. Regulations are more thansimply blocking certain Web sites, even though very important, but to prepare the Kingdom for its main2010-e-government target.





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Table 2: Telephone main lines, mobile subscribers, Internet users, broadband subscriber lines, personalcomputers, software sales, IT (Telecoms & technology data, 2006).

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Telephone main lines(‘000) 3,000 3,100 3,300 3,500 3,695 3,800Telephone main lines (per 100population)

14.0 14.0 14.5 15.0 15.4 15.4

Mobile subscribers (‘000) 1,460 3,195 5,000 7,306 9,176 11,200Mobile subscribers (per 100population)

6.8 14.5 22.0 31.3 38.3 45.5

Internet users (‘000) 350 900 1,300 1,455 1,586 1,950Internet users (per 100

population)1.6 4.1 5.7 6.2 6.6 7.9

Broadband subscriber lines(‘000)

0.0 1.0 2.8 5.8 25.4 64.5

Broadband subscriber lines (per100 population)

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3

Personal computers (stock per1,000 population)

63 77 107 134 154 167

Packaged software sales (US$m)

206.2 230.9 329.9 365.6 405.6 448.3

IT hardware spending (US$ m) 654.5 653.8 802.5 893.8 971.0 1107.2IT services spending (US$ m) 576.4 581.0 555.1 603.7 661.1 728.1Total IT spending (US$ m) 1437.0 1465.7 1687.5 1863.1 2037.7 2283.5

3-1 The Kingdom and International Laws

E-government services are becoming more widely available all over the world, and the number ofcitizens using these services is increasing. E-government services in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)countries are growing at an unprecedented rate. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are moving more and more oftheir services online. For example, all Saudi commercial banks now have Web sites, and all offer onlinebanking services. In June 2004, Saudi Arabian Airlines launched its e-Business Centre using IBMWebSphere technology to develop and deploy its e-business (Saudi Arabia technology, 2006). Promotingawareness in target users is getting more attention and many conferences are addressing this issue. And manyGCC countries are taking practical measures to protect their e-government structure; for example, The UAE'sTelecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) started a plan to form a special anti-cybercrime body, the United ArabEmirates Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT), which will facilitate the detection, preventionand response to cybercrime (Hancock, 2007).

On 11 December 2005, the Kingdom became the 149th member of the World Trade Organization(WTO). One of the WTO’s agreements is the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual PropertyRights, Including Trade in Counterfeit Goods. This agreement includes rules regulating copyright,intellectual property right, trademarks and service marks, geographical indications, industrial designs, andpatents. In addition, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, during its early 2006 meetings withSaudi officials, urged the Kingdom to ratify and fully implement the World Intellectual PropertyOrganization's Copyright Treaty on e-commerce (Saudi Arabia technology, 2006). The Kingdom signed andratified these international copyright treaties before joining the WTO:

1. Berne: Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Berne, 1886, cameinto force 1887;

2. UCC Geneva: Universal Copyright Convention, Geneva Act, 1952, came into force 1955;

3. UCC Paris: Universal Copyright Convention, Paris Act, 1971, came into force 1974; and

4. TRIPS: Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Marrakech, 1994,came into force 1995.





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The Berne Convention requires its signatories to recognize the copyright of works of authors from othersignatory countries (known as members of the Berne Union) in the same way it recognizes the copyright ofits own nationals, which means that, for instance, Saudi copyright law applies to anything published orperformed in Saudi Arabia, regardless of where it was originally created. On the other hand, the UCC wasdeveloped by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as an alternative to theBerne Convention for those states that disagreed with aspects of the Berne Convention but still wished toparticipate in some form of multilateral copyright protection. Finally, TRIPS is an international agreementadministered by the WTO that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual propertyregulation; it is considered to be the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property todate.

Furthermore, on 12 November 2007, Saudi Arabia signed the United Nations Convention on the Use ofElectronic Communications in International Contracts. The United Nations Commission on InternationalTrade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of internationaltrade law, and its laws on Electronic Commerce apply to any kind of information in the form of a datamessage used in the context of commercial activities (UNCITRAL, 2007).

3-2 The Kingdom E-Government Initiatives

The government of Saudi Arabia realized the importance of e-government in enhancing and improvingall services to its citizens and increasing the efficiency of the national economy. Accordingly, the supremeRoyal Decree number 7/B/33181, dated 10/7/1424, September 7, 2003, included a directive to the Ministryof Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to formulate a plan for providing governmentservices and transactions electronically. Therefore, MCIT established the e-Government Program inconjunction with the Ministry of Finance and the Communication and Information Technology Commission(CITC) named Yesser. The main objectives of Yesser are:

1. Raising the productivity and efficiency of the public sector,

2. Providing better and more easy-to-use services for individual and business customers,

3. Increasing return on investment (ROI), and

4. Providing the required information in a timely and highly accurate fashion.

To promote its e-Government Program, the Kingdom started many plans and initiatives (Yesser, 2007):

1. The National Information Technology Plan (NITP): launched by a decree of the Crown Prince inlate 2001, the plan includes a long-term vision for IT in the Kingdom over the next twenty years inaddition to the first five-year IT Plan;

2. The Telecommunications Act : was issued in the supreme royal decree number (M/12) dated12/3/1422H , June 4, 2001, and is meant to regulate and restructure the communications sector;

3. The Council of Ministers' decision no. 235, issued on October 4, 2004 directed government bodiesto utilize electronic methods instead of documents and conventional methods " 3- Governmentbodies shall expedite the use of computers in all financial and accounting operations, shift fromconventional methods in bookkeeping and preparation of accounts and financial statements toelectronic methods and turn in their data for review on CDs instead of paper documents." The E-Forms project, carried out by the e-government transactions program Yesser is a step forwardtoward implementing such directive;

4. E-Government Implementation Rules: the Council of Ministers Resolution no.40, dated March 27,2006 in its 17th directive stated that "each Government entity shall form an internal committee todeal with issues related to e-government interoperability applications. The main function of thiscommittee is to supervise and follow-up the implementation of the e-government plan, as well as tocoordinate in this regards with the Program”; and

5. E-Transactions Law: The Council of Ministers, headed by the Custodian of the Two HolyMosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, approved the e-transactions law in their session onMonday, 7th R. Awal, 1428H, March 26, 2007 . The law aims to protect the legal framework forelectronic transactions and signatures.





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3-3 The Saudi's cyberlaw

The purpose of criminal law is to deter future crime and punish perpetrators. Criminal threats to criticalinformation infrastructures include unauthorized access to computer networks (either from an insider or anoutside hacker), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), and distributed denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.The conventional wisdom is that prosecution of computer crimes will help reduce the number of futurecomputer attacks.

However, laws that govern the cyberspace are not given the required attention. These laws, which arethe same as security measures, are essential to encourage people to take advantage of the simplicity and easeof online services, since the provision of these services is practically a must for the financial and retailindustries and is fast approaching necessity for the government sector (Conway, 2007). To assert thisimportance, according to Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report, the GCC countries are rankedhigh in originating attacks of all types, and of those countries targeted by DoS attacks and Bot-infectedcomputers—the UAE ranked at 50, Saudi Arabia at 61, Kuwait at 55, Bahrain at76, and Qatar at78(ArabianBusiness.com, 2007). This implies that implementing laws to deter such activities is very importantat this stage of advancing GCC e-government initiatives. The UAE discovered an Internet fraud ring inwhich criminals targeted investors by pretending to operate out of the Dubai International Financial Centre.Furthermore, hacking attempts on several e-Government Websites resulted in service downtime as well asthe loss of large amounts of data.

The Kingdom has passed a number of laws related to computer crime, stemming from its basic principlewhich states that the Quran, and the Hadith (sayings) and Sunna (tradition) of the Prophet Mohammed, arethe constitution of Saudi Arabia. These laws are generally focused on hackers and other individuals who usecomputer networks for illegal purposes. The Council of Ministers, headed by the Custodian of the Two HolyMosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, approved the IT Criminal Law in the council session, held onMonday 7th R. Awal, 1428H, 26th of March 2007; 16 sections of the law have been approved by the 120-member Shoura Council. The law curtails IT crimes, by defining such crimes and relevant punishments. TheIT Criminal Law came into force on Sunday 29th Rajab 1428H, 12 August 2007. The above law strikes animportant balance between the right of the society to benefit from new technology and the right of theconsumer for protection of his/her privacy. It also paves the way for establishment of an IT legal system thatsafeguards the rights resulting from the legal use of computers and information networks. Finally, it aims toprotect public interest, morals, public ethics, and the national economy.

The maximum punishment under the new legislation is a prison sentence of ten years and a fine of SR5million, which can be imposed on anyone found guilty of hacking into government networks to stealinformation related to national security or using the Internet to support terrorism. Creating Web sites thatdefame humanity, advocate drug use or that contain pornographic material can lead to sentences of up to fiveyears in prison and/or a fine of SR5 million. The same punishment will also apply to anyone found guilty ofcreating Web sites or programs that violate any of the Kingdom’s general laws, Islamic values or publicethics. Any person who gains unauthorized access to a public network or who installs viruses on thatnetwork will be subject to a fine of around SR3 million and/or up to four years in prison.

According to Article 3 of the law, people eavesdropping on private e-mail messages without any rightor misusing mobile cameras will be sentenced to jail and a fine. Those who try to disrupt the Internet serviceor remove information on the network will also face punishment. Other punishable cyber crimes includesetting up Web sites for trading in pornography pictures and videos or facilitating drug trafficking and sales.The law will punish those who establish Web sites for terrorist organizations and facilitate contacts with theirleaders and members or promote their ideologies or publish information on how to make bombs andexplosives, as well as those who try to obtain secret information related to national security.

Article 8 warns those who contact organized criminal gangs, as well as those who entice women andsmall children to exploit them, and they will face punishment. The law, however, acquits those who helpsecurity authorities to foil criminal plots before they happen by providing them with information on peopleinvolved in the crime and the equipment used for it (Abdul Ghafour, 2006; Saudi Gazette, 2007; Armstrong& Forde, 2003).

In a move to implement and enforce these laws, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) in the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia is now in the preliminary stages of building a cybercrime unit as a part of the public security





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section of the Ministry within the investigations unit. The unit will contain forensic labs, and there will be atraining program to train Saudi officers to manage cybercrime technology (ArabianBusiness.com, 2007).

3-4 The Saudi Intelligence Service Conference and Cyberlaw

The three-day International Technology and National Security Conference in Riyadh, organized by theSaudi Intelligence Services and chaired by the Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz, emphasized theimportance of introducing the new cyberlaws to criminalize the use of communications technology to spreadterrorist ideologies that concern all countries. There are over 17,000 Web sites which fuel Al-Qaedaideology, and the number is increasing by some 9,000 Web sites per year (Bowman, 2007).

In this conference—which I attended--Prince Sultan stated that "communications technologies are justas important strategically for terrorist groups as the militant operations they carry out as cyber-terrorismenables sophisticated cooperation between cells and brings awareness and credibility to attacks." Animportant recommendation from this conference is the implementation of enhanced training programmersdesigned to educate both security specialists and the general public about cyber-terrorism, as well ascooperation between various security agencies, both within the Kingdom and abroad.

The main recommendations regarding cyberlaw, reported as essential, from the conference are:

1. Forming a special department responsible for combating cybercrimes – and this is somethingalready started in the Ministry of Interior- by the name Electronic Security Department. Thisdepartment should have the necessary authority to put the rules and regulations for implementingthe cyberlaws;

2. The Higher Judicial Institute and Islamic Law Colleges in the Kingdom have to start teaching theirstudents cyberlaw, and introducing cyberlaw courses in their curriculum;

3. Teaching the regional and international cyberlaw regulations to gain experience and to foster morecooperation;

4. Teaching pre-college students about the importance of Internet security and basic cyberlaws;

5. The necessity of a Computer Forensics Major in the Kingdom's universities, which teach studentsthe required skills in dealing with and investigating computer related crimes; and

6. The implementation of more specific and specialized cyberlaws in information security, and raisingthe competencies of police and law officers and judges in dealing with computer and informationcrimes.

4- HOW TO GOVERN OUR OWN CYBERSPACE?

As an educator I will shed some light on how to deal with cyberspace in matters related to children. Firstof all, we shouldn't blame the Internet but rather the people who misuse it. The Internet, in general, simplifiesand enhances our children's lives. The Internet can be an excellent way for children to bond and share acommon interest. Children will be able to improve their communication skills online and meet people fromother countries and cultures, sharing information, photos, and stories with the world and other familymembers. They learn not only to be creative but to share their creativity. Children can also research schoolprojects right from home and can keep in touch with teachers (Aftab, 2000).

Children surf the Internet to find: current events, sports information, scores and sporting events, games,and research information. However, there are certain areas online we need to be extra careful aboutincluding: Internet Relay Chats (IRC) and newsgroups, and certain activities like chatting, searching for Websites, instant messaging, registering at a site, joining online programs, posting personal profiles, and buildinga personal Web site.

4-1 Protecting Our Children

The most important thing is to educate our children about the dangers in the cyberspace. Teachingchildren about the Internet risks so they can avoid them will make the biggest difference most of the time.The same old things that we say (do) to our children can be said (done) in the cyberspace, but in a new form:

1. Look over your shoulders;





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2. Don’t talk to or accept anything from strangers;

3. Don’t say nasty things about other people; saying nasty things about other people in cyberspace iscalled flaming;

4. Don’t take things that aren't yours;

5. Be polite and respectful of others;

6. Don’t tell people personal things about themselves, and don't tell personal things about theirfamily;

7. Use an alias (it is not lying); and

8. Learn accountability.

5- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Cyberspace is a new frontier for both individuals and governments--a frontier to explore and utilize itsvast resources and capabilities. All statistics indicate the great need for the Internet to promote government e-services, and the great increase in the number of citizens using the Internet either to use these services oraccess information databases. Consequently, the need for more secure and reliable e-structure is a toppriority. Science has done its homework successfully; it is the time for governments to protect thisachievement by using its power and authority to enact laws and enforce punishments for those seeking thedestruction or impediment of this e-homogenous-structure. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the custodianof the two holey mosques and the largest oil producer, is an international leading country and plays a pivotalrole in enhancing the welfare and security of the world. E-government initiatives are advancing in anunprecedented way, and the responsibility to secure this progress is very essential. The IT Criminal Law andcybercrime unit is a good start toward effective and practical measures to promote a secure e-environmentfor both citizens and government sectors.

However, an important step is to educate all stakeholders about the basics in the Internet, computercrimes, and both national and international cyberlaws. Courts and judges should start implementing the newcyberlaw and those who committed such crimes should be publicly punished. The Saudis should carefullyunderstand that the Internet is more supervised and scrutinized than before and that cyberlaws have noborder. Enjoying the forgiveness and protection of our caring government today will not be the same whenwe travel abroad in an environment in which Saudis are characterized of being, unfortunately, terroristsrather than ordinary people.

More cooperation needs to be fostered between ministries and agencies in concern with cyberlawlegislations and law enforcement to increase the efficiency and practicality of these laws. Furthermore, thenew cyberlaw should be revised many times to accommodate new cybercrimes and to explain punishmentsin more specific ways for specific cyber-wrong deeds. Furthermore, e-commerce is thriving in the Kingdomand more companies are benefiting from it; also the number of Saudis using the Internet to buy and sellproducts and services is increasing. For example, the developers behind the UAE and Jordan's local onlineauction site, Souq.com, confirmed in January that the Saudi version of the online auction site would be upand running in the next three months. However, there are still no legislations in these e-commerce fields:

1. Intellectual property;

2. Consumer protection;

3. Contract law and dispute resolution;

4. Basis of taxation and Zakah;

5. Classification of e-commerce transactions; and

6. Compliance and enforcement issues.

(See Appendix for a comparison between international cyber-issues and the Saudi's IT Criminal Law.)

In conclusion, things have changed, especially after the 9/11 attack. Cyber laws have no boundaries andeach one can be held responsible in one country for things he/she does in his own country. We have to be





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vigilant, more than ever, and know the limits and precautions that we should consider to be safe wherever weare going to be.

REFERENCES

[1] Abdul Ghafour, P.K. (2006, August). New Law to Prevent Electronic Crimes. Retrieved December 10, 2007, fromhttp://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35317&Itemid=146

[2] Aftab, P. (2000). The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace. McGraw-Hill Professional, N.Y. RetrievedOctober 25, 2007, from NetLibrary database.

[3] ArabianBusiness.com (2007, March). Cybercrime hotspot. Retrieved December 14, 2007, fromhttp://www.arabianbusiness.com/9857-cybercrime-hotspot?ln=en

[4] Armstrong, H.L. & Forde, P.J. (2003). Internet anonymity practices in computer crime. Information Management & ComputerSecurity, 11(5). Retrieved December 10, 2007, from Emerlad database.

[5] Ball, K. & Webster, F. (2003). The Intensification of Surveillance: Crime, Terrorism and Warfare in the Information Age.Sterling, VA Pluto Press. Retrieved October 25, 2007, from NetLibrary database

[6] Bowman, J. (2007, December). Saudi urges action on escalating cyber-terrorism. Retrieved December 17, 2007, fromhttp://www.arabianbusiness.com/505618-saudi-targets-cyber-terror?ln=en

[7] Brody, G.R., Mulig, E. & Kimball, K. (2007). Phishing, pharming and identity theft. Academy of Accounting and FinancialStudies Journal, 11(3), 43-57. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from OneFile database

[8] Conway, B. (2007,October). National security. Retrieved December 14, 2007, fromhttp://www.arabianbusiness.com/502272?ln=en&start=0

[9] Geist, G. (2003). Cyberlaw 2.0.(Symposium: Intellectual Property, E-Commerce and the Internet). Boston College Law Review,44(2), 323-358. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from OneFile database.

[10] Hancock, M. (2007, April). Closing the net. Retrieved December 14, 2007, from http://www.arabianbusiness.com/11348-closing-the-net?ln=en

[11] International Telecommunication Union (2007). ITU Activities related to Cybersecurity. Retrieved December 25, 2007, fromhttp://www.itu.int/cybersecurity/

[12] Internet Industry Perspectives (2004). Host Computers and Internet Use, U.S. and Worldwide, 1985-2010. Computer IndustryAlmanac Inc. Retrieved January 10, 2008, from LexisNexis database.

[13] Jewkes, Y. (2002). Dot.Cons: Crime, Deviance and Identity on the Internet[e-Book]. Willan Publishing.

[14] Kamal, A. (2005). The Law of Cyber-Space. United Nations Institute for Training and Research, Geneva 10, Switzerland

[15] Marsden, C.T. (2001, Summer). Cyberlaw and international political economy: towards regulation of the global informationsociety, (future of communications regulations). Law Review of Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law, p355-421.Retrieved December 13, 2007, from OneFile database.

[16] McConnell International (2000). Risk E-Business: Seizing the Opportunity of Global E-Readiness. Retrieved December 25,2007, from http://www.mcconnellinternational.com/ereadiness/EReadinessReport.htm

[17] Napier, H.A., Judd, P.J., Rivers, O.N., & Adams, A. (2003). E-Business Technologies. Thomson Learning, Canada.

[18] Personick, S.D. & Patterson, C.A. (2003). Critical Information Infrastructure Protection and the Law: An Overview of KeyIssues. National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. Retrieved October 25, 2007, from NetLibrary database

[19] Saudi Arabia technology (2006, April). Saudi Arabia technology: Overview of e-commerce. Retrieved December 15, 2007,from EIU ViewsWire database.

[20] Saudi Gazette (2007, August). Cyber Law comes. Retrieved December 10, 2007, fromhttp://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=76236&d=13&m=8&y=2006

[21] Sun, L. (2007). Who can fix the spyware problem? Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 22(1), 555-575. Retrieved December 13,2007, from OneFile database.

[22] Telecoms & technology data (2006, February). Telephone main lines, mobile subscribers, Internet users, broadband subscriberlines, personal computers, software sales, IT. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from EIU ViewsWire database.

[23] UNCITRAL (2007). United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Retrieved January 10, 2008, fromhttp://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/index.html 13

[24] Yesser (2007). The e-Government Program – Yesser. Retrieved December 25, 2007, fromhttp://www.yesser.gov.sa/english/default.asp


2-4 The Impact of the Use of eServices on the Development of Learning Society in Saudi Arabia Eng. Anwar A. Hasan



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2-4 THE IMPACT OF THE USE OF E-SERVICES ON THE DEVELOPMENTOF LEARNING SOCIETY IN SAUDI ARABIA

Eng. Anwar A. Hasan, M Sc.

Superintendent Yanbu and Rabigh ITSaudi Aramco – Information Technology

[email protected]


Abstract:

This paper discusses the impact of the use of e-services on the development of the learning society inSaudi Arabia. It presents two examples of current e-services use by companies namely: Saudi Aramcoportal and Saudi Stock Exchange, to show the degree of effect of the provision e-services on thecommunity. It also reviews a number of surveys that illustrate the penetration indicators of e-services inSaudi Arabia Kingdom. These indicators demonstrate that growth of the learning society is usuallyaccompanied with the provision of e-services. This paper presents a survey conducted by the researcherand discusses the survey results. The researcher uses an impact assessment tool to demonstrate the type ofrelationship between the development of a learning society and the provision of the e-Services in SaudiArabia. Finally, the paper discusses briefly issues associated with the provision of e-services and wouldhinder the growth of the learning society.

Keywords:

e-service, community, learning society, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Mr Anwar A. Hasan was born in Al-Medina Al-Munawarah District, Saudi Arabia in July 1962. Heobtained his B.S degree in Computer Engineering from KFUPM with honor list in May 1985. Hecompleted his Master in Electrical/Computer Engineering at KAAAU, Jeddah in 1993. He joinedPetromin Services Company as a Computer Engineer in 1985 and had worked in different technical andmanagement positions. He was promoted to the position of Supervisor of Systems Evaluations anddeployment in Petromin Services Company and was in that position until 1989. He joined Saudi ArabianMarketing and Refining Company in 1990 as a manager of IT review and deployment department until1993. In 1994 he joined Saudi Aramco Company and was working in different management positions inthe Information Technology area. At present, he works in Saudi Aramco as the superintendent of Yanbuand Rabigh IT Division.


2-5 eGovernment: Hindrances and Solutions Eng. Bahjat S. Fakieh



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2-5 EGOVERNMENT: HINDRANCES AND SOLUTIONS

Eng. Bahjat S. Fakieh

LecturerDeanship of Information Technology

King Abdulaziz [email protected].

* This paper was presented in the symposium, then refereed and accepted for publication inthis Proceedings Book as a Useful Essay: (See the Arabic Volume of the Proceedings).

Abstract:

The Saudi government is making enormous efforts to apply the e-government across the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia. The government is planning, creating committees, holding meetings and working hard toreach this goal with full support from senior government staff at all levels of responsibility.

This paper discusses a curial problem which is the raise of many hindrances that may affectnegatively the application of e-government. It focuses on how to find the best solutions to avoid to sortout these obstacles.

This research has followed a methodology that uses field survey to investigate the application of e-government in a number of government sectors. It defines the e-government and the possible e-government benefits and success factors. Thus, it discusses the major hindrances and classifies it intoadministrative, technical, security and social hindrances. The paper draws a conclusion about these typesof hindrances and where they would mostly exist and on which level. Thus, the researcher suggestspossible solutions to overcome these obstacles and accomplish the e-government project goals.

Keywords:

e-government, management hindrances, technical hindrances, security hindrances, socialhindrances.

Biography:

Eng. Fakieh was born in Holy Makkah, Saudi Arabia in SAFAR 1403 AH – November 1982 AD.He obtained a B. Sc. at Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia in 1426 AH – 2005 AD. He had workedin The Holy Makkah Municipality from 1426 to 1428 AH. At present, he is a faculty member and alecturer at Deanship of Information technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah.


2-6 Computer Knowledge and Information Technology Attitude Among Saudi Universities Students: The Case of KFU Dr. Ahmed Alshoaib



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2-6 COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYATTITUDE AMONG SAUDI UNIVERSITIES STUDENTS: THE CASE OF

KING FAISAL UNIVERSITY

Dr. Ahmed Alshoaibi

Dr. Ahmed AlshoaibiCollege of Administrative Sciences and Planning,

King Faisal University, Hufof, Saudi [email protected]

* This paper was submitted then refereed and accepted for publication in this Proceedings Bookas a Scientific Research Paper : (See the Arabic Volume of the Proceedings)

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to examine computer knowledge and information technology (IT) attitudeof Saudi students. The author mailed surveys to 300 students at King Faisal University (KFU): 258 werereturned with usable data. Although computer knowledge and students' attitudes towards IT were found tobe influenced by a range of factors, statistical analysis showed that most of the surveyed students have fairknowledge in how to use computers and with positive attitudes towards IT. The results show thatdifferences exist on computer knowledge based on several factors: student's gender, PC ownership, takingcomputer course, and participating in computer training course. On the other hand, the study has found nodifferences on IT attitude based on student's gender, PC ownership, and participating in computer trainingcourse. The study found that taking computer course is a factor generates differences among students. Thestudy has thereafter introduced a number of recommendations for future research in this topic.

Keywords:

Computer, Information Technology, Higher Education, Student Attitude, e-learning.

Biography:

Dr Ahmed Alshoaibi is working as assistance professor at College of Management and Planning,King Faisal University (KFU). Since 2004, Dr. Alshoaibi is in charge of KFU Information TechnologyCenter and he is lecturing at the Department of Management Information Systems. Recently, Dr.Alshoaibi was appointed as the Dean of Higher Education Development. Dr. Alshoaibi is a member inmany committees and he has published numerous refereed papers and participated in many conferencesand symposia in the Kingdom and abroad.


2-6 Computer Knowledge and Information Technology Attitude Among Saudi Universities Students: The Case of KFU Dr. Ahmed Alshoaib



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-3أمن المعلومات للخدمات اإللكترونیة:ثالثلمحور الا-٣ Theme 3: eServices Information Security



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3- Theme 3: eServices InformationSecurity

-3أمن المعلومات للخدمات اإللكترونیة:ثالثلمحور الا-٣ Theme 3: eServices Information Security



79

3- Theme 3: eServices Information Security

3-1 eService Security Requirements: Objectives and Risks Eng. Saleh M. Al-Ghamdi



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3-1 ESERVICE SECURITY REQUIREMENTS:OBJECTIVES AND RISKS

Eng. Saleh M. Al-Ghamdi

System AnalystInformation Protection Center

Information TechnologySaudi Aramco, Dhahran

[email protected]


Abstract:

The rapid growth of the Internet Infrastructure in the past few years has been accompanied withthe increase of e-services such as e-commerce, e-government, and e-health.

The e-service paradigm focuses on building up reliable electronic service environment through theestablishment of rigid and strong relationships between participants.

Since the popularity of the e-services has grown in the past few years, the attacks on these servicesby malicious individuals have increased. This causes very serious security threats and raises the emergentneed for new e-services security requirements.

E-service security focuses on two components: communication between parties and access to thesystems, and resources of each service. The communication component can be secured by protecting theconfidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of the message. The access control component security verifiesthat all parties are authorized to have an access to the system and resources.

Network vulnerability would constitute a major threat to the systems and applications. As such, thenetwork system must be provided with sufficient security systems and measures to protect the system andapplications. This paper highlights crucial and common e-services security requirements and it focuses onobjectives of the e-security and possible risks to the systems security.

Keywords:

E-Security, e-service.

Biography:

Mr Saleh obtained his B.S. degree in Computer Science from KFUPM in 1991. He had worked inKFUPM for one year and a half. He joined Saudi Aramco in January 1993. He got his MBA in the fieldof Project Management from AMA International University in Bahrain in January 2008. Mr Saleh hadcompleted one year internship assignment in 2005 with McAfee Security in U.S.A as part of theprofessional development program. He obtained a certificate in Ethical Hacking (CEH) from theinternational Council of E-Commerce Consultants in U.S.A. At present, he works in the InformationTechnology Department at Saudi Aramco.


3-2 Securing Eservices: Challenges and New Trends: A Practical Guide Dr. Nasser ALMeshary



81

3-2 SECURING ESERVICES: CHALLENGES AND NEWTRENDS- A PRACTICAL GUIDE

Dr. Nasser ALMeshary

Assistant Professor of Information Security, Computer Programs,Institute of Public Administration

[email protected]


Abstract

Transformation to a digital society became one of the national major interests in all countries aroundthe world. To achieve this dream, public and private sectors should be modernized and transformed andthis can be done by the implementation of the e-information and communications technologies. EServicesinitiative can be considered as the vehicle which would accelerate the transformation and modernizationof public and private sectors. It would enhance the quality of government and businesses servicesprovided to citizens and to the business sector as well. This would inevitably led to an economic growthand improved gross domestic products. This transformation trend of eServices technology would imposeunprecedented risks to government and private organizations. It promotes them to provide a secureenvironment to government and businesses e-information and e-services. A key success factor for anyeServices is the establishment of confidence and trust of users in the safe use of eServices environment.Thus, the protection and security of government and businesses e-information and eServices is vital. Thispaper demonstrates the present security systems for eServices, the future developments and how they aimto meet upcoming challenges. It starts firstly by exploring the current situation of e-information securityindustry and risk drivers behind the development of e-security. Secondly, it discusses the securityobjectives that must be addressed, implemented and integrated into the security of any eServices system.Fourthly, it describes the traditional approach for securing e-information systems and eServices. Thepaper however argues that this approach is not sufficient and can not be applied at present. Finally, thepaper provides a practical implementation layered-model to secure eServices. This layered-model wouldimprove the national trust in eServices which is a key success factor of any national e-project such aseLearning, eHealth, and eGov.

Keywords:

Securing eServices, eServices Information States, secure eServices layered-model.

Biography:

Dr. Eng. Nasser ALMeshary, SSCP, CISSP, is an Assistant Professor of Information Security inInstitute of Public Administration-Riyadh. He is also Information Security ex-Consultant in e-GovProgram “Yesser”, (MCIT), Riyadh. He has worked as information security officer, information securityadministration and IT specialist in F.I.T. Aviation, LLC in Melbourne, Florida, USA. Dr. Almeshary hasmore than eight years of experience in e-information security industry, more than 12 years of experiencein training and more than 17 years of experience in IT industry.

At present, he is a Network and Information security consultant in Saudi-CERT- Communicationsand Information Technology Commission (CITC), Riyadh, Alelm Information Security Company, PublicSecurity-Ministry of Interior, and King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh. He is also delivering training andlecturing in e-information security to private and public organizations.


3-3 Seeing the Unseen: the Online Identity Theft Mrs. Manal Masoud Al-Sharif



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3-3 SEEING THE UNSEEN: THE ONLINE IDENTITY THEFT

Mrs. Manal Masoud Al-Sharif

Computer Security Consultant IIInformation Protection Division, Saudi Aramco

[email protected]


Abstract:

This paper describes the new techniques that online fraudsters and scammers use to steal financialand other confidential information. It highlights the difficulty of verifying 100% of the claimed electronicidentity and how it would be easy for hackers to steal and fake it. The paper discusses a case study andreviews the present research and statistics that illustrates the extent of the serious threat of the onlineidentity theft at present. Research studies pointed out that such threat is the fastest growing online crimein the world. It highlights the security measures that users should know and undertake to avoid hackers’techniques. It introduces a number of advices on how IT professionals and organizations can stop the theftof their identity. These advices for the end user could be summarized in three simple but effectiveprincipals: be proactive, be suspicious and report identity theft attempts to the authorities. The threesimple principals for the IT professionals would be: follow the best practices, educate and make the enduser aware, actively monitor systems and network for suspicious activities.

Keywords:

Identity Theft, Fraudsters, Scammers, Social Engineering.

Biography:

Ms. Manal Al-Sharif was born in April 1979 in the holy city of MakKah. She graduated with firsthonor degree from King Abdulaziz University, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Jeddah in 2002and joined Information Protection Division in Saudi Aramco in the same year.

Ms. Manal got many information security certificates during her career with Saudi Aramco andconsidered to be the first Saudi female who entered this field. She has currently the title ComputerSecurity Consultant II. Some of her important certificates are:

Certified Ethical Hacker that is offered by the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants,ISO 27001 Lead Auditor/Implementer that is offered by the International Organization ofStandardization, CISSP that is offered by International Information Systems Security CertificationConsortium Inc.

Manal is a professional expertise in the following areas: managing corporate information securityprojects, developing and updating information protection standards and guidelines, conducting risk andcompliance assessments, conducting penetration testing. She also participated in several governmentinformation security events and activities, such as the review of the Ministry of Commerce IT Standards& Guidelines, the review of the GCC Cyber law draft, penetration testing for a number of governmentalorganizations websites and systems. She is also an official presenter and speaker in many corporatesecurity and non-security related events


3-4 Development of Digital Electronic Systems to Protect Information From Spy Major Dr. Mohammed A. Aseeri



83

3-4 DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS TOPROTECT INFORMATION FROM SPY

Major Dr. Mohammed A. Aseeri

Ministry of Interior- Border Guard- Riyadh- [email protected]

* This paper was presented in the Symposium then refereed and accepted for publication in thisProceedings Book as a Scientific Research Paper : (See the Arabic Volume of the Proceedings)

Abstract:

Spying is one of the oldest intelligent activities exerted by human beings. The World Heritagedocuments disclose the human innate skills in the field of espionage, since the ancient times incongresses, emperor’s palaces, resorts and noble villas, and war fields.

At present, espionage has evolved and became a daily practice that relies upon governments toprotect their own security, develop their industries, and dealing with other friendly or hostile government.Governments are spying on their competitors. They collect various types of published and secretconfidential information about the strength and weaknesses areas of their competitors. They aim to findout the degree of awareness, morality and spirit of the community. They monitor the movement of themilitary personnel and the armed forces of the friendly and hostile countries and their alliances.Government agents are watching the extent of integrated or contradictory interests between countries andwhen the best chance to be an alliance with another country against a third one. At present, spyingbecame more dangerous because of the impact of technological progress which has provided manyprecise and compact services and equipments that increases the efficiency of the interception and remotesensing. World super powers are leading the way of espionage and creation of e-spying equipments andthis would constitute a potential threat to the Islamic world. The Islamic countries should developstrategic plans to encounter the risks of espionage.

This paper discusses the definition and types of espionage, and highlights the role of digitalelectronic systems in maintaining the confidentiality of and protection of information and electronicsystems that help to conceal and encrypt e-information. It also mentions various ways to combat generaltypes of espionage and electronic espionage. It points out to a new type of electronic systems that iscapable to preserve the confidentiality of information, whether it is written, audio i.e. sound& text thoughthe use of Chaotic Signals.

Keywords:

e-spying, digital systems, e- information

Biography:

Dr. Mohammed was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in March 1971. He obtained his B. Sc. and an M.Sc. Degrees from King Abdul Aziz University, KSA in 1994 and 1998, respectively. He got his Ph. D.Degree from Kent University UK 2003. At present, he works at the Ministry of interior Border Guard inRiyadh as Manager of the monitoring and surveillance Department. Dr. Mohammed published severalresearch papers in journals and participated in many International and national conferences.


3-5 eGovernment Applications: Challenges and Solutions Mr. Yahya M. Ali Abu Mmaghaied



84

3-5 E-GOVERNMENT APPLICATIONS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Mr. Yahya M. Ali Abu Mmaghaied, MBA

eGovernment Specialist and a Lecturer in the Cultural Institute, [email protected]

* This paper was presented in the Symposium then refereed and accepted for publication in thisProceedings Book as a Scientific Research Paper : (See the Arabic Volume of the Proceedings)

Abstract

This paper aim is to focus precisely and briefly on the security of electronic services, which wouldbe considered an important and urgent issue of e-government. The paper tackles three maininterconnected issues; the concept and components of the security of e-government services, the mainchallenges towards the achievement of e-government security and the proposed solutions for suchobstacles and recommendations. Throughout this paper, the researcher has used the descriptive inductiveapproach to explain the e-security issues particularly for those who have an interest in electronicapplications security. The research recommendations are concluded through three main issues. Firstly, theimportance of cooperative collective efforts of all concerned organizations at the national level tocomprehend various challenges that encounter the electronic services in general and the e-government inparticular. Second, it highlights the importance of the efforts of these organizations to achieve the propersecurity level for electronic services which would help in the development of solid electronic securitysystem for all electronic applications at the national level. Third, it focuses on the development of ITknowledge and applications capabilities on both sides: the hardware and software. However, theserecommendations cannot be achieved without the development of electronic knowledge and experience ofindividuals and without a radical shift from the consumption of the technology approach to the productionand innovation of new technologies approach. Such shift would provide the essential tools for sustainingprosperous future for the nation.

Key words

Electronic Services Security , Information Security, e-Government

Biography

Mr. Yahya obtained a Bachelor of Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, KSA, 1998.Thus he got a Master of Administration from King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA, 2003. His MasterThesis focuses on E-Government Application requirements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is aspecialist in Administrative Information Technology. He has 16-year experience of public administration.He published a book on “E-Government: Revolution against Traditional Administrative Work.” Hepresented papers in several symposiums and conferences. Also, he delivered several public lectures aboutthe IT and Administration in general. At present, he works as a lecturer in the Cultural Institute, Riyadh.He is the manager of the Unit responsible for preparing and designing training programs and developmentof educational curriculum.


3-5 eGovernment Applications: Challenges and Solutions Mr. Yahya M. Ali Abu Mmaghaied



85

4- Theme Four: Limitations and Potentials of eServices تحدیات وفرص الخدمات االلكترونیة:الرابعلمحور ا-٤



86

4- Theme four: Limitations andPotentials of eServices

4- Theme Four: Limitations and Potentials of eServices

4-1 eServices: Challenges and Mechanisms in the Transition to eCommunity Eng. Saeed Bawazir and Mr. Husam BenSeddeekk



87

4-1 ESERVICES: CHALLENGES AND MECHANISMS IN THETRANSITION TO ECOMMUNITY

Eng. Saeed A. Bawazir andMr. Husam A. BenSeddeekk

e-Doc Division – Saudi AramcoP.O.Box 15801 Dammam 31454, Saudi Arabia1

P.O.Box 5392 Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia2eMail: [email protected]@aramco.com

* This paper was presented in the Symposium then refereed and accepted for publication in thisProceedings Book as a Useful Essay : (See the Arabic Volume of the Proceedings)

Abstract:

eServices is one of key elements which attracted significant interest from all countries at the level ofdecision-makers including the nation’s leaders. It promoted countries to expedite the building up ofinfrastructure for e-Services, utilize the international experience, and business process reengineering.Governments usually have two basic objectives behind the provision and application of such services.One of these is the Return of Investment (ROI) that will be gained from implementing such services.Despite this objective is important, but it is not sufficient to highlight it and neglect other objectives asthis would led to a major failure in public acceptance to the e-services. The second objective is thateServices would be useful for the nation and society to facilitate transactions that are undertaken in typesof e-services provided to citizens. The objective of this paper is to discuss and analyze the challenges thatwould be encountered through the transition to the eCommunity and recommendations of how toovercome them. The paper highlights the community's awareness about eServices and to which extent thecommunity would accept changes in service’s process. The paper describes a proposed properenvironment that should be provided to e-services users. The research uses Saudi community as a casestudy and it discusses possible ways to facilitate the community access to e-Services, to enhance e-services and set recommendations accordingly.

Keywords:

eServices, Information Technology, Internet, eCommunity.

Biography:

Eng. Bawazir graduated from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) inComputer Engineering with First Honor degree in 2004. In 2004 he joined Saudi Aramco as SystemsAnalyst in the Corporate Applications Department (CAD). Eng. Bawazir accomplished several researchespublished in scientific conferences in the area of evaluating the performance of IT and e-Governmentsystems.

Mr. BenSeddeek graduated from Computer Science faculty, King AbdulAziz University (KAAU)with Honor degree in 2002. In 2002, he joined the Corporate Application Department, Saudi Aramco as aSystems Analyst. He participated in numerous IT projects such as e-Government, Enterprise ContentManagement, Imaging Solutions, Workflow systems Correspondence Management and Saudi Aramcobusiness lines systems. Both researchers received a certificate of appreciation from the Vice-President ofSaudi Aramco – Information Technology for excellence in the establishment of the e-Government Systemfor the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals- Minister's Office in Riyadh.


4-2 Smart City Mobile World Eng. Ammar Enaya



88

4-2 SMART CITY MOBILE WORLD

Eng. Ammar Enaya

Sales DirectorAruba Networks

Middle East and North Africa.


Abstract:

“Smart Cities” is a new concept which applied to a green sustainable cities interconnected byaffordable communications services. The main goal behind the creation of a smart city is to attract localand foreign investments to commence business and to relocate staff and their families to these cities. Astrong IT infrastructure is the major factor that would attract people and companies to move in to thesenew cities. However, people expect their applications, security parameters, and connectivity to stick withthem wherever they move in or out of the city. Thus, full mobility should be established and enabled withquad-play support and security and this is what this paper discusses.

Keywords:

Smart cities, wireless. E-communications

Biography:

Ammar Enaya has B. Sc degree in Computer Engineering from KFUPM in 1991. In 1996, Ammarjoined Fore Systems and was assigned a position as Middle East technical manager. In 1999 he JoinedCisco Systems as sales manager for Oil and Gas sector in Saudi Arabia. In 2004, Ammar moved to ArubaNetworks and was assigned a position of Sales Director for the Middle East and North Africa.


4-3 Managed Services, What, Why and How? Arabian Internet and Communications: Awalnet Eng. Fahad Al-Hussaini



89

4-3 MANAGED SERVICES, WHAT, WHY AND HOW?ARABIAN INTERNET AND COMMUNICATIONS: AWALNET

Eng. Fahad Al-Hussaini

AwalNet – [email protected]


Abstract:

This paper discusses some important issues of HCL Technologies which is one of the world’sleading global IT services and product engineering companies, providing value-added, software-led ITsolutions and services to large- and medium-scale organizations. HCL Technologies presence across 17countries gives us global reach and a vast rollout support capability.

Also, HCL believe that in technology there are no half-measures. HCL growth has been a result ofunique business model and clearly defined growth strategies. Best shore-led, technology-centric, poweredby domain expertise and a comprehensive understanding of diverse business verticals, the primary onesbeing Banking and Financial services, Insurance, Retail, Semi-conductors, Life Sciences, Automotive,Aerospace, Telecom and EUP (Energy Utilities & Process).

We seek to provide simplified infrastructure management solutions through our global deliverymodel for complex, distributed infrastructure environments. HCL ISD addresses not only the growingdemand for cost-effective management of IT infrastructure, but also helps Fortune and Globalorganizations across the world to “transform” their operations.

Keywords:

IT Services and Product Engineering, HCL Company, Awal Net, IT Infrastructure Management,Organizations’ Operations “transform.”

Biography:

Eng. Fahad started his career after getting his master degree from university of California LossAngeles. He mastered the engineering of many national infrastructure projects, after that he joined theleading ISP AwalNet then became the president in 2005. He managed to lead AwalNet toward the largestprofits, market share, and business opportunities among ISPs that ended by the acquisition of STC. Alsohe is one of the founders of the Arab Regional ISPs & DSPs Association (ARISPA).


4-4 eLearning and Virtual Classes: Naizak Global Engineering Systems Eng. Basheer M. Al-Ghazali



90

4-4 E-LEARNING AND VIRTUAL CLASSES:NAIZAK GLOBAL ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

Eng. Basheer M. Al-Ghazali

Account ManagerE-Learning and Training DepartmentNaizak Global Engineering Systems

[email protected].


Abstract:

This presentation discusses a number of important issues of e-learning such as: What is e-learning?Its benefits and components? How the institution can utilize the different types of e-learning and itpresents a comprehensive e-Learning solution. The focus of this paper is on (Centra), a well-known e-learning system. This system enables the institution to process, monitor and control its learning activitiesand services effectively. It is flexible enough to be integrated with the institution’s IT Center. The systemcomprises mainly two components: Self-paced System and Virtual Classes System. Finally, the paperdemonstrates a number of successful Centra implementations in academic institutions and otherorganizations.

Keywords:

e-learning, virtual classes, self-paced, training.

Biography:

Mr. Al-Ghazali was born in Khobar, Saudi Arabia in July 1977. He obtained a B. Sc. and an MBA.Degrees from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia in 2000 and2006, respectively. He is an Account Manager of the e-learning and training department of Naizak GlobalEngineering Systems Company. He has designed a number of web Sites and implemented e-learning andtraining solutions for a number of agencies, in Saudi Arabia.

4- Theme Four: Limitations and Potentials of eServices4-5 The Use of Technology to Sort out Business Problems: the Business Systems of Al Alamiah Institute for Computer and Technology Mrs. Nadia y. ALsaleh



91

4-5 THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO SORT OUT BUSINESS PROBLEMS:THE BUSINESS SYSTEMS OF AL ALAMIAH INSTITUTE FOR

COMPUTER & TECHNOLOGY

Mrs. Nadia y. ALsaleh

Project and marketing managerAl-Alamiah teaching and training company

[email protected]


Abstract:

This research has a number of the objectives; namely: to describe and analyze the business systemsat Al Alamiah Institute for Computer & Technology (AICT's) and how these business systems would helpstaff; to find out the relationships between AICT's and e-commerce and web-enabled systems, to definesupport operations for various business areas; to appreciate the value of research as a source ofinformation, to appreciate the importance of business research as a management decision-making tool. Ingeneral, the scientific research is valuable to find out different sources of human knowledge such astraditions, authority, trial and error, and logical thinking processes.

The paper describes basic components of successful system; namely: (1) the business perceptions ofIT which is the core of any organization's operating capabilities as it supports decision making processwithin the organization; (2) to consider the sections of the organization as an integrated system; (3) theIT department which facilitates the organization activities and provide support to encounter majorchallenges; (4) the business systems and how these systems would help the organization; (5) theprospected benefits behind the use of e-commerce or web-enabled systems; (6) the type of systemsavailable to support decision making process within the organization.

Key word

Information Technology, IT department, E-Commerce.

Biography:

Nadia.Y. A. Al Saleh has a Master Degree in Business Administration from Malaysia OpenUniversity, and B. S. Degree in Computer Science from Basra University in 1989. She worked as amember of Baghdad's University faculty 1989–1995 and a Lecturer of computer science courses. She hasa number of training certificates such as: British Technical Council Certificate BETC as internalsupervisor; Awareness Training in ISO 9001:2000 Requirements Certificate; Customer service certificatefrom the Canadian Center; Management leadership and the seven management habits certificate. Since2008, she has been serving as project and marketing manager of Al-Alamiah teaching and trainingcompany, thus, as regional manger for Alalamiah Institute. She is managing six training females centersawarding a 2-year Diploma. She has published several training and teaching articles and books about thefollowing subjects: teaching skills and technology, the ethics of the profession of teaching, fundamentalsof education, etc. She presented a number of articles and presentations in workshops and conferences.

-5ةتجارب نجاح وخبرات الخدمات االلكترونی:الخامسلمحور ا-٥ eServices experiences and successes



92

5- Theme Five: eServices experiencesand successes

5- eServices Experiences and Successes

5-1 Achivements of the Emarah of Al-Baha Region in eGovernment Prince Salman Ben Faisal Ben Mohammed Ben Saud



93

5-1 ACHIVEMENTS OF THE EMARAH OF AL-BAHA REGION IN eGOVERNMENT

Prince Salman Ben Faisal Ben Mohammed Ben Saud

eGovernment of Al-Baha Region, Supervisor


Abstract:

This presentation aims at demonstrating the accomplishments of Albaha Emarah Region in the fieldof eGovernment. The presentation discussed these successes in a chorological oreder as follows:

- Introduction about Albaha Region,

- The first stage of eGovernment effectuation,

- Embarking of Emarah Web Site,

- The implementation of eGovernment services,

- Embankment of the universal office for citizens’ services,

- Electronic messaging and e-mailing,

- Future services for eGovernment.

Keywords:

Establishment of eGovernment Services, Albaha Emarah, Saudi arabia.

Biography:

His Royal Highness Prince Salman Ben Faisal Ben Mohammed Ben Saud Ben Abdulaziz hasobtained a B. Sc. Degree in Computer Engineering. He has been studying towards an M. Sc. Degree inAdministration Information Systems. He is now the General Manager of eGovernment in Emarah.


5-2 The Eservices in the Ministry of Health: Sharqiyah Health Dr Khaled AlTurki



94

5-2 THE ESERVICES IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH:SHARQIYAH HEALTH

Dr Khaled AlTurki

General manager of Primary Health CareThe Eastern Province


Abstract:

Official recording is considered one of the most significant right of children, as stated in the chartersof the United Nation and its different sub organizations. Saudi Arabia has signed and agreed on suchamendment.

Although official recording started since the midst of the 17th Century, there are still 50 millionyearly born unrecorded children. This fact has made it a target for world organizations which care for thewellbeing of children to record all children of the world by the year 2015.

Saudi Arabia has started official birth recording of its new born infants since more than 50 year ago.The country has issued regulations to retrain those who delay or fail to record their new born children.

Initiating e-Birth recording in the Eastern Province will grantee higher accuracy, efficiency andeffectiveness than manual birth recording. E-birth will facilitate the exchange of information among thepartners of the system, e. g., the Ministry of Health, the civil Records, Education Ministry, etc. Moreover,it provides better ground for future planning of services and production facilities which depend on suchan interactive and updatable birth information database.

Keywords:

E-Birth Recording, the Eastern Province, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Dr. AlTurky is a consultant physician for family and society medicine. He is the General Manager ofprimary Health Care in the Eastern Province. He is also the Dean of the Medical Science College inDammam. Besides, Dr Alturky was the superintendent of Medical Higher institutes in the Eastern and theNorthern Provinces from 1413-1415 H. Since 1416 H., he has been the Manager of technical follow upand Quality Assurance Program.


5-3 E-Training Service: E-Government Trail in Education Environment Dr.Ibrahim Al Saikhan and Mr. Naif Al Harbi



95

5-3 E-Training Service: E-Government Trail in EducationEnvironment

Dr.Ibrahim Salim Al Saikhanand Mr. Naif Ghazi Al Harbi

Director of Training & Scholarships Dept.

[email protected]

Head of Computer Unit.naï[email protected]


Abstract:

The paper discuses the experience of the Department Of Educational Training and Scholarship at theGeneral Department of Education in the Eastern Province regarding the implementation of e-governmentsystem. It explores the extent of acceptance of the beneficiaries of the e-government system and identifiesthe type of obstacles which may raise during and after the implementation. The paper highlights theextent of acceptance of the system and volume of positive change that made by the e-government systemwhich would include: the enhancement of the work quality, easiness of work procedures and enablingtransparent and clear processes. In addition, the paper discusses the level of impact of the e-governmenton organization’s structure regarding to the processing of administration and management jobs and tasksthrough the system. The paper argues that it possible to replace the infrastructure PKI with the use ofBarCode scanner which is capable of verifying the authenticity of electronic signatures and identity of theuser.

Keywords:

E-Government,Education,Electronic Signature, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Biography:

Dr. Ibrahim Al Saikhan got B. Sc in sociology and community service 1405H, Diploma inPsychological guidance 1407H, Master degree in mental l guidance 1417H, and PhD in mental guidance1429H. He currently works as a director of training and scholarship department and he is the founder ofeducational services center in Eastern Province and had supervised it during the period 1418H 1427H,author of Sitoor bulletin. He is the author of the book Your educational and career future, and the manualof mental, educational and sociological Services and member of many scientific committees.

Naif Al Harbi got B..sc in Math 1417G, presently works as the head of computer section atdepartment of training and scholarship, supervision, computer training programs. He is a member in manycommittees devoted to Computer and Education. He has more than 10 years experience in field ofsystems analysis Information security and websites development. He is a developer of cell phone SMStransferring protocol on Application– Layer which is currently used. He is the developer of many auto–communication software that include: Cell Phone – Land telephone, Fax and E-mail.


5-4 eServices at Jubial Industrial College Mr. Eid F. Al-Rasheedi



96

5-4 E-SERVICES AT JUBIAL INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE

Mr. Eid F. Al-Rasheedi

Management Information Systems Center ManagerJubail Industrial College

[email protected]


Abstract:

The paper describes briefly the e-services offered by Jubail Industrial College and administrativeinformation systems Center. These e-services can be classified into the following aspects. The paperfirstly explains the structure of Jubial Industrial College. It highlights the role and mission ofManagement Information Systems Center. Thus, it demonstrates the software applications that are used inJubail Industrial College and e-services that are provided by IT centre. Finally, it discusses the role of ITdepartment regarding the security of information.

Biography:

Mr. Eid Falah Al-Rasheedi was born in Hail, KSA in 1978. He graduated from Computer Science&Information Technology College at King Saud University in Riyadh in 2000 with a bachelor's degree inInformation systems. He has worked in JIC since graduation and he was promoted to be the director ofMISC in 2007.


5-5 The Esystem for Comprehensive Service in the Royal Commission of Jubail Mr. Ali M. Uqaily



97

5-5 THE ESYSTEM FOR COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE IN THE ROYALCOMMISSION OF JUBAIL

Mr. Ali M. Uqaily

Senior Systems AnalystProject Manager, Comprehensive Service Center System

[email protected]


Abstract:

This presentation discusses the experience of the Royal Commission's regarding the transition fromtraditional paper-based transaction processing to fully automated electronic processing, through thedeployment and improvement of the Comprehensive Service Center System (CSCS). At present, thiscentre provides a central linkage and hub point between the staff Center, investors and other RCdepartments which provide investment-related services.

The presentation includes a brief description of the system, its components, how it interacts withservice users, and how it internally tracks and records service request processing progress. It alsodiscusses the benefits of the system, its capabilities, operational statistics of services that are provided andnumber of service users, the difficulties and obstacles that the Center experiences and feasible solutionsthereto.

Keywords:

Traditional paper-based transaction processing, e-transaction processing, comprehensive servicecenter system, the Royal Commission for Jubail.

Biography:

Mr Uqaily had Worked for Aramco from 1969 to 1980; 6 years as a mainframe computer’sOperator.

He joined RC in 1981 and had worked mostly as a manager of Development & Maintenance ofsystems.

He creates and help in creation of over 90 major applications for the various administrationrequirements of the Royal Commission.

His activities include design, analysis, coding and implementation of applications for HRM,finance, security, control, workflows, etc.

He trained many co-op students from several universities, colleges and institutes.

Authored/co-authored/translated all RC computers, applications and maintenance contracts

He developed and conducted several bilingual training programs about computer architecture,programming and applications.

Presently, he is project manager of the Automation of Comprehensive Service Center.


5-6 ERP Project (Safeer) in the Directorate General of the Royal Commission in Jubail Mr. Musfer Ali Al-Ghamdi



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5-6 ERP PROJECT (SAFEER) IN THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF THEROYAL COMMISSION IN JUBAIL

Mr. Musfer Ali Al-Ghamdi

Executive Manager of ERP Project (SAFEER)Directorate General of the Royal Commission in Jubail

[email protected]

Abstract:

This paper discusses the ERP project at the Directorate General of the Royal Commission in Jubail(SAFEER). In 2003, the senior management of the Royal Commission in Jubail decided to implementEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system based on Oracle e-Business Suite for finance, humanresources, supply, projects and asset maintenance. This is made within a plan that aimed at the automationof work and documentation procedures in the Royal Commission to set a foundation for an e-Government(SAFEER) Project. The plan also aimed at promoting information technology solutions that wouldmaximize productivity and efficiency of Royal Commission Departments.

Thus, the IT network have been upgraded in terms of speed, capacity and range. The informationcenter was provided with an adequate number of file servers, computers, and advanced informationsecurity systems. The capabilities f technical staff was enhanced and upgraded. In 2005, financial, humanresources, supply and asset maintenance applications were launched. The Directorate General of theRoyal Commission in Jubail is working hard to apply all ERP system procedures based on Oracle e-Business Suite, without making fundamental changes to the program to smooth the progress of futureupdates, apply standards of evaluating system performance efficiency, and embrace the total qualityculture.

Keywords:

Royal Commission, ERP project, SAFEER, Finance, Human resources, Supply Chain, Projects,Asset Management.

Biography:

Mr. Al-Ghamdi joined Royal Commission since 1986, He was assigned different positions in thePersonnel Department (Recruitment Section Head, Compensation Section Head, Employee RelationSection Head, and Policy & Procedures Section Head). Thus he moved to the Stock Control Departmentas a head of the Stock Management Section. Afterwards, he became the head of the archive & filingSection.

In 2003, Mr. Al-Ghamdi assigned as a Supply Chain Team Leader of the ERP project at theDirectorate General of the Royal Commission in Jubail (SAFEER). Thus he was appointed as theExecutive Manager of ERP Project (SAFEER).


5-7 eHealth In Jubail Industrial City Eng. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed Al-zahrani



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5-7 EHEALTH IN JUBAIL INDUSTRIAL CITY

Eng. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed Al-zahrani

Technical Services SupervisorHealth Sercives departmentRoyal Commission - jubail

[email protected]


Abstract:

E-health services are considered as the most sensitive services in the medical and health sectorbecause of the increase of dependency on e-information and the e-health and e-medical procedures.Electronic services in the medical and health sector encounter many difficulties and obstacles and some ofthese is discussed in this paper.

The paper investigates in-depth a number of electronics health services capabilities and whether theyare capable to support the medical decisions in Jubail industry city. It discusses the application of IT inthe medical sector on two levels: to benefit people who can utilize the health services, and for theenhancement of quality of medical and health services and creation of effective electronic environment.Finally, the paper discuses all achievements which have been made and the future ambitious plans.

Keywords:

Informatics System, eHealth, Health Sector, Jubail Industrial City

Biography:

Eng. Abdul-aziz Mohammed Al-zahrani – Tech. Services supervisor in Health Services departmentin Royal Commission in Jubail. He was born in Al-baha , in May 1980.. He obtained his B. Sc Degree incomputer science and engineering from KFUPM 2002. He is certified as a IT Specialist by theCertification Board of SAVE international. He got a professional training in IT Strategic ManagementCertificate. He is a Member in many Committees of the Royal Commission. He started his career in RCas an application Supervisor (Managing and planning the HIS systems), thus he became an IT projectsManager. Since 2006, he had worked as Technical services supervisor which include IT, BiomedicalEngineering and telecommunication.


5-8 eEducation in the Schools of the Royal Commission For Jubail Mr. Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Musnad



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5-8 E-EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS OF THE ROYALCOMMISSION FOR JUBAIL

Mr. Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Musnad

Director , Department of Education ServicesRoyal Commission for Jubail

[email protected]


Abstract:

The Royal Commission of Jubial is committed to the provision of educational services in theindustrial city of Jubail and keen to provide and update technology that is required for educational processand development. In the past few years, there was an accelerated move to introduce various moderntechniques into school’s systems, as well as preparing the infrastructure for the electronic user’sinteraction and communications. This creates a suitable environment for the introduction of e-Learning. Itpromotes the adoption of an electronic education project for the academic year 1426-1427 to sustain andsupport all previous initiatives.

The revolution in E-learning and the use of digital information offer huge potential to deliverinteractive educational information to learners within very short time and less effort. The e-learningsystem would strengthen more the abilities of learners, teachers and upgrade their knowledge andexperience. This is discussed fully through this paper.

Keywords:

eEducations, general Education, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

- Mr Al-Musnad has a degree in Educational Administration from the University of King Saud.He worked as a principal of a school and the president of the educational supervision anddirector of the Department of Education Services at Royal Commission for Jubail.

- He authored a book about the shift to knowledge cities across the education gate. Also, hepresented a paper at the knowledge cities, Shah Alam city, Malaysia.


5-9 Net Parks in the Industrial City Al-Jubial Mr. Melab Ashwei Aldhafeerie



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5-9 NET PARKS IN THE INDUSTRIAL CITY AL-JUBIAL

Mr. Melab Ashwei Aldhafeerie

Computer O.P SupervisorRoyal Commission for Jubail

[email protected]


Abstract:

The net parks project was launched as a response to the concept of the comprehensive role thatshould be played by the RC of Jubail in the development of property services that offered to thecommunity and the aim to shift to the knowledge society at Jubail Industrial City. The project has thefollowing objectives:

To motivate the society to use and interact with the electronic services provided by the RoyalCommission such as: educational services and public server public.

To provide the e-information and communications services free of charge to all members of societywhich would contribute to the process of social and economic development.

To benefit from the net parks to develop knowledge and awareness.

To encourage the community members to acquire electronic skills and to spread the digital cultureamong the community.

Keywords:

E-parks, wireless Internet service, Saudi Arabia

Biography:

Mr Aldhafeerie has a Diploma in Computer by the general board of education, Al-Kuwait. He was acomputer operator for more than 9 years thus he moved to the Royal commission for Jubail and Yanbu,where he works as an administrative. He was promoted to databases specialist thus Computer O.P.Supervisor.

5- eServices Experiences and Successes5-10 The Ministry of Higher Education Implementation of Management of Information Technology of KAOSP Prof. Abdullah Abdul-Aziz AlMousa



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5-10 THE MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IMPLEMENTATION OFMANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OF KINGABDULLAH OUTSIDE SCHOLARSHIPS' PROGRAM (KAOSP)

Prof. Abdullah Abdul-Aziz AlMousa

The General Director of Scholarships Affairs and KAOSPMinistry of Higher Education

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi [email protected]


Abstract:

The experimentation of MOHE in electronic Administration of King Abdullah outsidescholarships' Program is a perfect example of what the MOHE has used and implemented,through electronic admission system to receive requests of students to different levels of highereducation (bachelors, masters, PhD and fellowships)

Then the request goes through electronic system through many scanning phases ofannouncements, scan, editing, corresponding and printing-up approved documentation ofscholarships and air fair.

The system also can be used by students for to fellow-up through the MOHE website andthrough MSS messaging, and provide applicants with all necessary information and requiredcompletion of application if required such as University Admission during editing phase andetc, the system is considered fully combatable with electronic government requirements byreaching out applicants through-out the program phases.

Keywords:

Ministry of Higher Education, King Abdullah outside scholarships' Program (KAOSP),Scholarships' Students.

Biography:

Currently, Dr. Abdullah Al mosa is working as the General Director of Scholarships Affairs and(KAOSP). Before that he was the Head of the Computer and Information Section, Ammam Universitythen the Collage Dean, after that he became the Acting Dean of Science Collage. Dr. Abdullah has asmany as 22 research papers, books and publications in Electronic Education and Computer Instruction.He is a member of many education boards and a chief of Scientific Committee of Computer ScienceAuthors of Ministry of Education. Dr. Abdullah also worked as a consultant for many Ministries (such asHigher Education, Ministry of Labor, Islamic Affairs, The tow Holy mosques Affairs, etc.)

5- eServices Experiences and Successes5-11 The E-Government Program “Yesser”: Recent Achievements And Project Management Methodology “Yesmethod” Eng. Suhail M. Al-Almaee



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5-11 THE E-GOVERNMENT PROGRAM “YESSER”: RECENTACHIEVEMENTS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

METHODOLOGY “YESMETHOD”

Eng. Suhail M. Al-Almaee

Director, Strategic Planning & Supporting InitiativesE-Government Program “Yesser”

[email protected]


Abstract:

Significant improvements have been made in the E-Government domain recently. As per theUNPAN’s E-Government Readiness Index recent report, the kingdom has moved up 35 ranks in the last 5years. The presentation shows the recent achievements and efforts related to E-Government in thekingdom, such as: related regulations, e-services projects, Yesser (e-government) projects; infrastructure,integration, national applications, standards, frameworks, manuals and methodologies. One of the mainreasons of such success is Yesser’s adoption of “YesMethod”, a simple project management methodologydeveloped by Yesser according to the international standards of the Project Management Institute (PMI).The presentation gives a brief about “YesMethod” and the implementation approach used, along with theservices and reports provided by Yesser Project Management Office (Yesser4Yesser).

Keywords:

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, E-Government, Yesser, E-Services, Project Management, Methodology,YesMethod, PMO, Yesser4Yesser.

Biography:

Eng. Suhail currently works as Director of Strategic Planning and Supporting Initiatives Departmentat the Ministry of Communication and information Technology , E-Government Program ( Yesser ),Saudi Arabia. Eng. Suhail earned his bachelor’s degree of science in Computer Technology Engineeringfrom Eastern Washington University , Washington Status, USA. Eng Suhail has huge experience inprivate sector , he was working as General Manager of Al Faisaliah Electronic Services, a subsidiary ofAl Faisaliah Group Holding Company . Then as Vice President / Project Management office andOutsourcing Services of EBTTIKAR Technology for Al Faisaliah Group . He was responsible for runningall EBTTIKAR projects in terms of planning, running , costing, Profit, delivery, invoicing, and help incollection. EBTTIKAR has more than 170 projects with total value of 500M SR. In addition to runningthe outsourcing business and establishing the project management office. Then he has joined Devoteam asa consultant for E-Gov program (Yesser) to assure that the Program projects are implemented accordingto international best practices and customized to meet the local needs. After that , Ministry ofCommunication and information Technology , E-Government Program ( Yesser ) assigned him to be E-Gov Program Consultant. Currently he is a Director of Strategic Planning and Supporting InitiativesDepartment.

5- eServices Experiences and Successes5-12 eCollege as an Integrated Institutional Solution for Providing eServices in the Faculty of Environmental Design- KAU Dr. Mohamed Maatouk



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5-12 E-COLLEGE AS AN INTEGRATED INSTITUTIONALSOLUTION FOR PROVIDING E-SERVICES IN THE FACULTY

OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN- KAU

Dr. Mohamed M. H. Maatouk

Associate ProfessorFaculty of Environmental Design (FED), King Abdulaziz University

Manager of IT Unit of [email protected]


Abstract:

This paper discusses number of important issues of the e-College such as: What is e-College? Whye-College? What are the e-College components? How the educational institute would define their needs,goals and strategy of the e-College. This paper presents a real life application of the implementation of ane-College Project in Faculty of Environmental Design (FED), King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah,Saudi Arabia. The paper focuses on the methodology and implementation process and style of the e-College which constitute foundations of an integrated solution for the provision of e-services. Thissolution enables FED to process, monitor and control its activities and services effectively. It enablesFED to increase the productivity and performance of their staff, students and administration. The solutionis flexible enough and can be integrated with the University IT Center and other institutions. The e-College of FED comprises five Components: E-College Portal, E-Learning, Archiving and WorkflowSystem, IT Infrastructure of e-College, and IT Unit of FED. This paper discusses these components andhighlights their main characteristics, obstacles that each component encountered, and opportunities andpotential of improvement. Lessons learned from this experience could contribute to the e-servicesapplications in other academic institutions across the region.

Keywords:

eCollege, eEducations, University Education, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Dr. Maatouk was born in Minia, Egypt in April 1965. He obtained a B. Sc. and an M. Sc. Degreesfrom Assiut University, Egypt in 1987 and 1993, respectively. He got his Ph.D. Degree from MiniaUniversity (in a joint supervision program with Texas A&M University, Texas, U.S.A.). He is anAssociate Professor in Minia University. Since 2005, he is a faculty member in the College ofEnvironmental Design, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah. He is the manager of the IT Unit of theCollege. Dr. Maatouk published several research papers in journals and participated in many conferences.He has designed a number of web Sites and Portals for a number of agencies, in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.




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1- INTRODUCTION:

There has been a mad rush by universities, venture capitalists, and corporations to develop onlinecourses, virtual universities, e-colleges, education portals, and courseware. The number of online classesoffered by universities and colleges has grown rapidly. In 1999 one in three U.S. colleges offered some sortof accredited degree online, and approximately one million students took online classes out of 13 milliontake traditional classes. E-learning has become on every educator's and corporate leader's agenda", and thatwe are at the beginning of an "E-learning Revolution" [1]. According to specific studies, the ratio oftraditional educational institutions that have delivered courses and academic learning packages reached to48% in the year 1998 and increased to 70% in the year 2000 [2]. Also, it was anticipated that online e-learning industry achieves 23 billions of American dollars in the year 2004 [2]. So, it is anticipated as the“second wave” of e-commerce [1].

Faculty of Environmental Design (FED) recognizes that it is now appropriate to develop a distinct e-College system, ensuring that it is developed with a clear vision and purpose, and is sustainable. Some issuesof that vision will be discussed here and highlighted.

1-1 Why is e-College?

The present-day university is an organization fragmented into academic specializations, primarily for thepurpose of furthering knowledge in specific fields of study. Shortcomings of such an organization includeisolation from society’s real needs, hindering of interdisciplinary coordination, and the tendency to be task-instead of process-oriented. This is besides, the external changing environment that is characterized byheightened customer consciousness and demands, rising education costs, increasing competition in the formof new and alternative sources of learning and information, and the increasingly presence of information-agetechnologies, particularly the Internet. All of these have made it necessary for universities to seek new andinnovative ways of delivering education, as well as looking at alternative models in terms of structure, workorganization, and the management of knowledge, information, and course content [3].

1-2 What is e-College?

The modern university can be viewed as a network or a chain of activities centered around teaching,research, and community services, which, in turn, involve educational design, educational delivery,assessment, research and development, and outreach activities. Each of these processes add value to the totaleducational package provided to students, and supporting these processes are the activities of recruitment,admission, enrollment, academic services, and alumni support. The e-College is an integrated systemdesigned to support these processes by either automating them or providing tools for their management.While some systems support administration and decision-making, and others facilitate online learning, e-College seeks to do both in an integrated manner [3].

1-3 What are Target Users of e-College?

The e-College as an integrated solution has to provide e-services to a wide range of users. These usersmainly are:

Students Faculty Administration External Users (other institutions and industry partners).

It is in terms of the functions available to these various users the objectives of the e-College could beclearly defined.

1-4 What are e-College objectives?

The e-College system enables FED to process, monitor and control its activities and services effectively.It enables FED to increase the outcome of its staff, students and administration. The system will help itsadministration, faculty and students to interact online and will provide information that will be secure,reliable and updated. FED e-College is not an internal or limited system but the solution should be flexible




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enough to be integrated with the University Administration and other external institutions. Objectives ofFED e-College are defined according to needs and requirements of target users as mentioned before.Objectives are stated locally and in collaboration with Aldaleel Information Systems [4]. Following are fewof the key objectives of the e-College categorized according to the target users:

Students: E-College should enable them:o To view announcements and news from the college administration or instructors.o To view programs details with their courses and their schedules of each instructor.o To view assignments to be done, to submit assignments online and to view results of assignments,

mid terms and final exams.o To contact with each others, with staff and administration through email and discussion forum.o To publish their projects through work gallery. The projects could be searched and viewed according

to different criteria.

Faculty: E-College should enable them:o To download assignment files, make students assessment and upload results of assignments, mid

terms and final exams.o To view progress report of a student per course of the semester.o To upload lectures materials (slides, videos, notes, etc.), that can be viewed online.o To publish their information of academic and professional experiences (CVs).o To deliver online lectures and to manage chat sessions with their students.

Administration: E-College will facilitate and support decision-making process through providingthem:o An Archiving System that enables them to save and archive a huge amount of digital data. The data

then could be searched and retrieved according to different criteria. The paper documents could bescanned, saved in digital format and archived in the system.

o A Workflow system that enables them to monitor, control, accelerate and manage all administrativetransactions among different hierarchical levels of administration.

External users: E-College will enable FED:o To strengthen its external links by communication and information sharing between other institutions

and between industry partners (potential employers of FED alumni).

2- WHAT ARE E-COLLEGE COMPONENTS?

The e-College of FED comprises five Components. Each one achieves number of the previouslymentioned objectives. The paper here attempts to explain these components and shed some light on theirmain characteristics, obstacles facing them, and opportunities and potentials for their improvement.

2-1 IT Unit of FED:

The College Dean of FED has established an IT Committee in August 2007 then has promoted it to anIT Unit in December 2007. This Unit has to group qualified members enough to manage the e-CollegeProject during all stages of implementing, operating and maintaining the system. The Unit now depends onsome of FED Staff members and research assistants but still has a shortage in technical positions. This willbe overcome soon by hiring number of full time technical jobs to join the Unit. The researcher is theManager of the IT Unit and the Webmaster of the e-College Portal.

2-2 E-College Portal:

Through the portal different web applications and components of the e-College will be accessed. Theeducational portal applications have been described in e-commerce literature as the "Education PortalIndustry" [1]. The Portal will strengthen FED relation with its external links as mentioned before and shownin Figure 1. The Portal has been programmed using ASP and depends on Microsoft Access databases. Itcontains different modules such as: News, College Administration, Academic Departments, StaffInformation, Students Projects Gallery, College Awards and Exhibitions, Courses, College ScientificJournal, Internet Links, Alumni, Calendar, Sitemap and Content Management Module. Figure 2 representsthe main interface of FED Portal. A mechanism is needed to collect portal information in the purpose ofensuring it's up datedness. This mechanism has to be accepted, authorized and stimulated by the collegeadministration.




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Source: Faculty of Environmental Design (2006).

Figure 1 FED e-College is an Educational Portal Based Solution


Figure 2 the Main Interface of Faculty of Environmental Design Portal




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2-3 E-learning:

E-learning is defined as the use of information and communication technologies to deliver, support andenhance teaching, learning and assessment. It includes elements of communication within and betweencommunities of learners and teachers, as well as the provision of online content, which may be locallygenerated or developed elsewhere [7]. E-learning comprises two components: E-learning System and E-learning Content as shown in Figure 3. The well known e-learning system Moodle [8] is used as a LearningContent Management System (LCMS) in the e-College of FED. Figure 4 represents the Login Page ofMoodle. It is an open resource system that is based on PHP programming language and use My SQLdatabase. E-learning content (courseware) is implemented through three stages. The first one is CollectingCourse Materials from Staff members with different format (PPT presentation, Flash animation, video,audio, graphics, text …etc.). The second stage is Course Processing in the purpose of transforming coursematerials into web pages then downloading them into Moodle. The task in the third stage will be the CourseEnhancement whereby the course materials will be developed and enhanced locally in the IT Unit of FED orexternally by a specialized company. The main obstacle of the e-learning project is the resistance of somestaff members to publish their work on the Internet. This problem could be completely overcome if thecollege purchases the copyright of staff courses.


Figure 3 the Two Components of E-Learning System

2-4 Archiving and Workflow System:

The eDoX software is used as an Archiving and Work Flow system to facilitate and support decision-making of FED Administration. It can save, archive, search and retrieve data files; also it can automate,monitor, control and accelerate the ongoing actions among hierarchical administrative levels in the college.eDoX is owned by a joint venture of Aldaleel Information Systems (in Jeddah) and Buraq IntegratedSolutions (in Pakistan). eDoX has a bilingual interface and supports two languages; English and Arabic. Ituses SQL and Oracle databases and also it has many features that can be reviewed on the web page of thesoftware [10]. Figure 5 represents an Index Card of eDoX. The Index Card is the basic object that holds theuser index fields as well as the related documents. These documents files can be either images or electronicfiles, such as scanned images (of paper documents) or simple text files [11]. Figure 6 represents theWorkflow Report in eDoX. As mentioned before Portal, Moodle and eDoX use different database engines,so the main obstacle of implementation of a sustainable integrated system will be the integration andtransformation of different databases into Oracle.

E-learning

E-learning Content E-learning System




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Figure 4 the Login Page of Moodle System

Source: Aldaleel Information Systems (2002).

Figure 5 Viewing Index Cards in eDoX


Figure 6 Workflow Report in eDoX




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2-5 IT Infrastructure of e-College

This represents the backbone of e-College Project that includes: hardware, software, network andInternet connections. FED has 1200 Internet connections which are distributed among studios, classrooms,lectures rooms, staff and administration rooms. The College has many labs which are equipped with newhardware and software. It also has a Servers Room which has 11 servers for different applications of the e-College. The main obstacle of implementation is the delay of contractor time plan of hardware and softwaredelivery, installation, configuration, testing and users training. Also the slowness of Internet Speed and smallbandwidth is a real problem.

3- INCREMENTAL MODEL OF SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

Incremental Model is best suited for the e-College of FED. It is best suited for the systems that evolveover a period of time and with tight deadline. System will be developed in increments; in each incrementthere is a prototype that will be developed, that will be a part of system that is fulfilling set of requirements.And this will be able to test and assure its quality and the requirements can easily be verified and validated.And work on other set of requirements will be started. And in this way next increment will develop aprototype, and so on [4].


Figure 7 Incremental Model of Developing FED e-College

4- RELATED WORK AND CASE STUDIES:

Many efforts of educational institutions of online learning are reviewed such as; Moodle [8], Blackboard[12], Web CT of King Saud University [13], Web CT of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals[14], Syrian Virtual University [15], Jones University (the first virtual university in USA) [16], University ofIllinois Online [17], and e-College of Computer Studies in De La Salle University (DLSU) in Philippines [3].Most of these efforts support and facilitate e-learning process but e-College of Computer Studies in DLSU isa good example of an integrated system which supports both of e-learning process and administrativedecision-making. This experiment is very close and related to the philosophy and approach of FED e-College. So the paper attempts to shed some light on its main characteristics.

E-College system of Computer Studies in De La Salle University (DLSU) is equipped with an e-learningsubsystem to automate educational delivery. The system includes a faculty information system that providessupport for decision-making in human resource functions such as hiring, promotion, and matching facultyskills with specific needs. The system automatically provides graduates with alumni accounts, allowing themto maintain contact with the university and to update their records themselves in the purpose of ensuringgreater data reliability and up datedness. The system can provide graduates, advisors, and guidancecounselors with a facility that supports communication and manages information related to thesis programactivities. External users of the system include feeder schools and employers of its graduates. The system

Analysis Design TestCode



1st Increment

2nd Increment

3rd Increment

nth Increment ……………………………………




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will allow feeder schools to evaluate the quality of their high school graduates. Industry partners who areemployers or potential employers of alumni are given a built-in electronic recruitment assistant. The systemis implemented using Java technology includes facilities for supporting students, faculty, alumni, feederschools, industry partners, and administration [3].

5- CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS:

Faculty of Environmental Design (FED) establishes an e-College system as an integrated institutionalsolution for providing e-services. This solution enables FED to process, monitor and control its activities andservices effectively. This paper discussed some important issues of FED e-College such as: Why is e-College? What is e-College? What are target users of e-College? What are e-College objectives? What are e-College components, obstacles and opportunities of their implementation? The paper then briefly discussedsome case studies of related work. Some keys of future directions should be identified as follows:

The first prototype of FED e-College will be launched in February or March 2008. The system functions should be tested to assure its quality and the requirements can be verified and

validated. The work on a new set of requirements will be started to produce the second prototype of system

according to the Incremental Model discussed before. Some requirements that support some oftarget users such as alumni, industry partners and feeder schools should be added or enhanced thesame way as e-College of Computer Studies in DLSU discussed before.

The problem of the integration among system different databases should be dealt with andovercome.

The new members of teaching assistants joining the IT Unit should be trained with eDoX andWorkflow, content management of Moodle and Portal, course enhancement, and web pages design.

A mechanism for system maintaining and collecting information has to be established to ensure it'sup datedness and sustainability.

Finally, it is hoped that lessons learned from this experience could contribute to the field of e-servicesapplications in academic institutions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

Many thanks and deep appreciation go to Dr. Hossny Aziz Alrahman the Dean of the Faculty ofEnvironmental Design (FED) and the Founder of the e-College Project to give me the opportunity tosupervise this project during the implementation stages and to give me the responsibility of managing the ITUnit.

REFRENCES:

[1] Werry, Chris (2001), "The Work of Education in the Age of E-College", First Monday, volume 6, number 5, May.

Available at: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_5/werry/index.html

.، مؤسسة شبكة البیانات، الریاضالتعلیم األلكترونى األسس والتطبیقات،)٢٠٠٥(أحمد بن عبد العزیز،المباركو،عبد هللا بن عبد العزیز،الموسى]٢[

[3] Sison, Raymund, Pablo, Zelinna Cynthia, and others (2000), "Value Chain Framework and Support System For HigherEducation", Southeast Asian Regional Computer Conference (SEARCC) 2000. Manila, Philippines. Available at:http://mysite.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty/sisonr/Paper%20-%20PCSC%202000%20-%20with%20citation.pdf

[4] Aldaleel Information Systems (2006), "Proposal of eCollege Project For Faculty Of Environmental Design, King AbdulAziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", Aldaleel Information Systems, Jeddah.

[5] Faculty of Environmental Design (2006), "Proposal of e-College, submitted to the University Computer Center", Faculty ofEnvironmental Design, King Abdul Aziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

[6] Faculty of Environmental Design (2007), Portal URL: http://www.kau.edu.sa/faculties/fed/

[7] Lewisham College (2004), "Lewisham College eLearning Strategy 2005-2008", Lewisham College, UK.

Available at: http://www.lewisham.ac.uk/beacon/docs/LewishamCollegee-learningStrategy(2005-2008).pdf

[8] http://www.moodle.org

[9] Faculty of Environmental Design (2008), "The First Presentation of e-College", Faculty of Environmental Design, KingAbdul Aziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, January 15.

[10] Aldaleel Information Systems (2008), eDoX website: http://www.eDoX.ws/about-us.asp




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[11] Aldaleel Information Systems (2002), eDoX User's Guide, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

[12] http://www.blackboard.com/us/index.Bb

[13] [http://webct.ksu.edu.sa/webct/public/home.pl

[14] http://webcourses.kfupm.edu.sa/ webct/public/home.pl

[15] http://www.svuonline.org/sy/eng/

[16] http://www.jonesknowledge.com

[17] http://www.online.uillinois.edu/

5- eServices Experiences and Successes5-13 eHealth Strategies to Manage Cost, Market Potential, and Business Opportunities Among Four Middle East Countries Eng. M. Qurban & Mr. R. Austria



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5-13 E-HEALTH STRATEGIES TO MANAGE COST, MARKETPOTENTIAL, AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FOUR MIDDLE

EAST COUNTRIES

Eng. Mustafa H. Qurban* andMr. Richmond D. Austria**

Computer Services DepartmentKing Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhahran,

K.S.A*[email protected]

**[email protected]


Abstract:

The booming development of IT in the e-health field in the Middle East has generated unprecedentedinterest among policy-makers who set strategies to utilize the e-technology and to provide accessibleservices to the citizens. This has created profound market potential and lucrative investment opportunitiesfor e-technologies such as the Internet to facilitate the delivery of such services and interaction betweenvarious and key stakeholders such as G2G, G2B, G2C, B2B, or B2C.

To capture such benefits, this paper demonstrates the best practices for setting e-health strategies tomanage cost, market potential and business opportunities in the delivery of e-health-related products andservices. This is an exploratory research which uses content- and data-analysis of information obtained fromWHO, CIA, EMRO, UNDP, ESCWA, World Bank, IWS, WTO and e-government sites to find out thebusiness opportunities of e-health such as the market forecast, ICT performance, trends of e-governmentprograms in three GCC countries (UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia) and a non-GCC which is Jordan.

Results confirm that ICT developments among these four countries were relatively differentsuggesting the emergent need for a unified initiative to boost regional cooperation. General spending onhealthcare is relatively lower than the regional average. Also, the market size forecast showed that thesecountries have sufficient untapped (potential) Internet users that should be captured by current and futureplayers of Internet providers and ICT traders. Moreover, the five-year forecast (2008-2012) of the tradeof pharmaceutical products, electronic data processors, and telecommunications equipment confirm thatsuch commodities would grow. Correspondingly, such opportunity should be captured optimally byopening wider market channels using both online and offline business presence. Hence, the use of “clickand mortar” business strategy could be the best practice to potentially expand the market, capture thesebusiness opportunities and manage cost of the delivery of such e-health-related products and services.Such strategy could be supported by the presence of e-trade and e-commerce initiatives such as theTejari.com which could be regarded as a regional best practice.

Keywords

eHealth, eTechnology, eGovernment

Biographies:

Engr. Mustafa H. Qurban, M.S. is currently working as a Computer Consultant and Director ofComputer Department at KFMMC, Dhahran, KSA. He has participated in many national andinternational conferences. Engr. Qurban’s research interests include E-Health, IT Strategic Planning,Business Process Re-engineering, Software Engineering Project Management Practice, and ComputerNetworking Design and Implementation.

Richmond D. Austria had worked as a Research Analyst (Intelligence and Data Services) of XMGAsia Pacific, a global ICT research, advisory and consulting firm headquartered in Victoria, Canada. Hehad also worked in the academic institution and other corporate institutions as a researcher. Mr. Austria isa BS Biology alumni of the University of the Philippines Manila and an MS Biology candidate at De LaSalle University-Dasmariñas, Cavite, Philippines. His research interests include e-health, clinical trials,biotechnology, disease management, market intelligence, competitor and competitive intelligence, humancapital management, project management practice, and performance management. He is currentlyworking as a Biostatistician at KFMMC, Dhahran, K.S.A.




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INTRODUCTION

The development of e-health and e-business opportunities across various e-government initiatives in theMiddle East region has opened greater linkage among stakeholders whether government-to-government(G2G), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-clients (G2C), business-to-business (B2B), orbusiness-to-clients (B2C). e-Health is defined by EMRO as “the use, in the health sector, of digital data-transmitted, stored, and retrieved electronically-for clinical, educational, and administrative purposes, both atthe local site and at a distance”[1]. Currently, most health services in the region are based on the curativemodel which is expensive to maintain. It has been shown that nearly 80% of hospital beds are in the publicsector in most MENA countries where occupancy rates are less than 65%. Yet, most governments arefocused on the development of infrastructure (building hospitals, clinics) instead of improving and investingon the current pool of technological advancements offered by the ICT sector such as e-health [2]. Moreover,the healthcare and ICT sectors remain to be of less priority in many MENA countries. A report mentionedthat if the spending on public health measures is too low, in most countries, the only ways to increase it areto expand general revenue spending overall, or to increase the share of those revenues devoted to publichealth [3]. Hence, healthcare delivery needs to focus on the investment potential and wide array of businessopportunities that can be gained out of effective e-health strategies to increase general revenue and managecost in the delivery of care [2]. As such, this paper seeks to provide e-health strategies to manage cost,market potential, and business opportunities in the delivery of e-health-related products and services.

METHODOLOGY

This is an exploratory paper prepared by using content- and data-analysis of information obtained fromWHO [4], CIA [5], EMRO [6], UNDP [7], ESCWA [8], World Bank [9], IWS [10], WTO [11] and e-government sites to determine the business aspect of e-health such as the market forecast, ICT performance,and current to future state of e-government programs. This paper covers four Middle East countries, threeGCC members (UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman) and a non-GCC (Jordan). Only four Middle East countrieswere selected to limit the focus of the paper. Forecasting on the business potential of e-health and/or e-government-related products and services is based on the regression line:

y= m (x) + b

This equation represents the linear trend where y is equal to the forecast value, m is the slope, x is theyear, and b, the intercept. Data were processed using the regression forecast feature of Microsoft Excel. Suchforecast follows estimation until 2012 to provide a five-year assessment (2008-2012) similar to UNDP’s FiveYear Development Program in the Middle East [7]. Also, forecasting mainly focused on the import (from theworld) and export (to the world) of e-health and/or e-government-related products such as pharmaceuticals,electronic data processing and office materials, and telecommunications equipment. The forecast alsoincluded the number (count) of Internet users and GDP per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity. Thesee-health business indicators were based on descriptions made by Whitten et al. [12], Steinfield et al. [13], andKirigia et al. [14].

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION1-General Profile and Market Performance1-1 ICT Performance

UAE and Jordan were able to be above the average MENA spending on ICT (Table 1). Both Oman andSaudi Arabia were below the MENA average, suggesting the need to boost the ICT spending by a minimumof 1%.of GDP. Also, all of the four countries were able to be above the regional average on the mobilesubscriber density, secure Internet servers, international Internet bandwidth, broadband subscriber densityand total telecommunications revenue. However, only UAE, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia were able to be higherthan the regional average on the PC density. In addition, only Saudi Arabia and UAE were able to above theregional average on the telephone main lines, whereas, both Oman and Jordan were able to exceed theregional average on the total telecommunications revenue. These data confirm earlier reports on thewidening gap between and among countries in the Middle East suggesting the need for unified developmentprojects on both the healthcare and ICT sectors toward regional and global cooperation on e-health programs[8]. Such digital divide calls for measures to address the performance management, fiscal allocation, andlegislation.




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Table 1 Comparison of ICT Performance among the four Middle East countries and the MENA region

ICT Indicators( 2005) UAE Jordan Oman Saudi Arabia

MiddleEast and

NorthAfrica

ICT spending (Percentage of GDP) 3.6 8.4 2.4* 2.3 3.1

Telephone Main Lines (per 1000 people) 273 119 103 164 160

Mobile Subscribers (per 1000 people) 1000 304 519 575 229PCs (per 1000 people) 197 56 47 376 48

Secure Internet Servers (per 1 million people) 54.4 4.1 3.4 4.6 0.7

International Internet Bandwidth (bits per person) 923 58 194 33 9

Broadband Subscribers(per 1000 people) 28.3 1.9 3.3 0.9 0.5

Total Telecommunications Revenue (% of GDP) 2.7 8.3 2.3 3.2 1.3

Total Telecommunications Investment (% of revenue) 12.9 16.7 43.3 12.319.8

Source: World Bank (2005); * 2004 value from ESCWA [8] p. 34

1-2 Healthcare Spending

The three GCC countries tend to have relatively similar healthcare spending from 2000 to 2004 whichrange from 2.9% to 4.7% of GDP (Figure 1A). However, Jordan has the highest expenditure at 9.4% to 9.8%of GDP among the four. In addition, these countries have relatively flat growth rate on their healthcarespending which indicates a uniform priority level on healthcare within the five-year expenditure (2000-2004).However, The three GCC countries spent relatively lower than the world average of 5.8% amongmiddle-income countries (Figure 1B). Meanwhile, Jordan’s healthcare spending is similar to those of high-income countries despite being a non-GCC (where oil is not part of their economic growth). As such,diversified economy has been the major driving force for the increased healthcare spending of Jordan.

It seems that the three GCC countries tend to be almost similar with the healthcare spending among thelow-income countries at 4.7% of GDP (Figure 1B). Correspondingly, UAE and Saudi Arabia are consideredas to high income countries while Oman and Jordan as middle income [4]. Also, the average total healthcareexpenditure within the MENA region is 5.6% of GDP which indicates that the three GCC countries were notable to meet the regional average, suggesting the need to increase the budget allocation (Figure 1B). Thus,the three GCC countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman) should provide higher fiscal allocation onhealthcare which could be derived from both the private and government sectors.

The over-all healthcare budget should be increased through enhanced private-public partnerships.Moreover, it should be noted the relationship between health expenditures and health outcomes is not alwaysclear. Higher spending does not necessarily translate to better health outcomes. Although the evidenceslightly shows a positive relationship between public spending on health and selected health indicators, thedefinition could not always be provided. The quality of a country’s institutions also plays a key role indetermining the effectiveness of health spending [15]. As such, healthcare outcome is a combination ofexpenditure, resource allocation, and management which all dictate for the quality of care. Hence, it isrecommended that the government of these four countries should diversify their economic policies to allowgreater investments on healthcare products and services in order to generate revenues and boost government-private sectoral reforms such as e-health initiatives. Also, they should efficiently manage those resources bystrategically allocating funds for total quality assurance, evaluation and development.

0

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A. Four Middle East Countries B. Regional Average Expenditure

Figure 1 Trend of healthcare spending based on percent of GDP

5.6

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1-3 Market Size of Internet Users among the four Middle East countries

The current (as of September 30, 2007) market size of Internet users indicates that Saudi Arabia has thehighest number (count) of Internet users followed by UAE, Jordan, and Oman being the least (Figure 2).Also, if the Internet population penetration of UAE (42.9% of their population in 2007; the highest in theMiddle East) would be taken as the ideal proportion, then Saudi Arabia would have 5.63 million potentialusers (untapped users from its current 19.5% Internet penetration) to be at par with UAE. Similarly, Omanhas potentially around 0.7 million (730,000) untapped users from its current 13% Internet populationpenetration, while Jordan has an estimated of 1.5 million potential users from its current 14.8%. This justifiesthe lucrative business opportunity available within Saudi Arabia for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) onboth current and future players. This also indicates the high potential for the entry of PCs to accommodatethe increasing demand for Internet usage among the remaining potential users. Similarly, Jordan and Omanalso experience this business opportunity owing to its relatively high untapped users; making it ideal for theentry of new players in the ICT- or Internet-related businesses. UAE is highly penetrated by the Internetthough it is considered to be relatively lower than the North American Internet penetration average of 70.2 %[10]. This takes their business potential towards the expansion (to be comparable with the North American),continuation and sustainability of the dominantly online populace. Correspondingly, UAE has a lucrativeinvestment potential for those new players or competitors with the capacity to provide better quality, low-cost and innovative Internet services (ISPs) to capture more users.

OmanJordan

UAE

Saudi Arabia

0

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Population 2007

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2007

Source: IWS (2007)

Figure 2 Market Size of Internet Users across country population

The Internet has the potential to be a more strategic tool than any other IT innovations due to itsextensive reach and flexibility. To fulfill the Internet’s promise, healthcare organizations need to valueopportunities beyond cost cutting when identifying criteria for Internet investment. As such, healthcareorganizations need to emphasize key measures for their e-health strategy, such as customer acquisition,customer satisfaction, relationship building, and improvements in the quality of care [16]. Hence, the Internetcould be utilized as a market channel for the trade of e-health-related products and services to efficientlydeliver care.

Previous studies would show that the click and mortar business model could be used as the optimalstrategy in the delivery of e-health-related products and services [12, 17]. The model has been extensivelyused in e-business and e-commerce whereby online and offline channels are integrated in the delivery of e-health products and services [13, 18]. Such model is seen as a guide to boost the performance of e-healthinitiatives and other e-related transactions across the region. Correspondingly, one portal seen to achieve thisgoal is the Tejari initiative (www.tejari.com) branded as the Middle East Online Marketplace [19]. Such e-commerce initiative is strategic to the development of regional e-trade system where stakeholders getsufficient linkage across various transactions (G2B, G2C, B2B, G2G, and B2C)

2- Business Potential and Opportunities: Forecast on e-health-related Products and Services2-1 United Arab Emirates2-1-1 Forecast on the Trade of Pharmaceutical Products

The forecasts on both the import and export trade channels remain lucrative for the pharmaceuticalindustry. Regression analysis estimates that the import of pharmaceutical products would reach to 1.26billion USD by 2012 (Figure 3A) while the export would be at 624 million USD by then (Figure 3B). Hence,




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to capture this business potential, both online and offline channels should be strengthened over the next fiveyears (2008-2012) to deliver pharmaceutical products efficiently. Hence, it is best to align future businessgoals on capturing such opportunity within the pharmaceutical sector in support of the government’s e-healthinitiatives and its implementation. Correspondingly, the pharmaceutical industry could look forward to abetter business climate upon utilizing e-government/e-health portals such as the Tejari.com to facilitateonline channels along with offline transactions to open more avenues for trade. With this, G2B, G2C, andB2C channels can be easily integrated to UAE’s e-health/e-government backbone to enhance trade relationson various pharmaceutical products towards a “click and mortar” business environment. Hence, thepharmaceutical sector should be ready and expect a shift from a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical importcapabilities to a billion dollar industry for UAE within the next five years.

y = 84.143x - 168039

R2 = 0.90420

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Figure 3 UAE’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of pharmaceutical products

2-1-2 Forecast on the Trade of Electronic Data Processing and Office Materials

The growth of e-health-related products such as PCs is expected to rise over the next five years (2008-2012). Regression analysis revealed that the import value of data processing and office materials wouldincrease to 9.92 billion USD by 2012 (Figure 4A) while the export value would be at 8.65 billion USD(Figure 4B) by then. This means that the electronic data processing and office materials industry wouldcontinue to be a multi-billion dollar business venture in UAE. This would create a profound effect on theICT development projects in the UAE especially in Dubai (the ICT hub of UAE and other Arab states due tothe boost in the ICT sector such as Dubai Internet City, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai Media City, and DubaiKnowledge Village among others [20]) as a result of development programs toward the comprehensiveimplementation of e-health projects. Such initiative would then require investments on data processors suchas PCs and other office materials. Hence, the ICT sector particularly the computer hardware industry shouldcreate a better business relation and linkage (G2B, B2B, and B2C) with the healthcare sector to capture theexpected rise in the demand for telemedicine hardware infrastructure, video-conferencing equipment, andhousehold/office PCs over the next five consecutive years.

y = 770.68x - 2E+06

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Figure 4 UAE’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export of (B) electronic data processing and officematerials




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The UAE government recognizes that the private sector is of major importance towards their economicdiversification. The creation of an ideal business environment has encouraged both local and foreigninvestors. The major incentive strategies of UAE include first-class industrial facilities and business supportservices, the reduction of red tape and streamlining of administrative procedures, commercial laws, tax laws,and political stability among others to foster enhanced transparency, international obligations, andinvestment protection. In fact, UAE has created several incentives such as the creation of Dubai Airport FreeZone Authority (DAFZA) to establish free zones in the UAE such as the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone [21].

The “click and mortar business model” could be highly adopted in UAE for the creation of offline andonline e-health trade channels due to the Tejari-Middle East online market place initiative (www.tejari.com[19]). Previously, the Tejari initiative was created to facilitate online government procurement transactionswith business establishments (G2B) but later on pushed towards the development of B2B, B2C, and G2Cchannels via Internet [21].

2-1-3 Forecast on the Trade of Telecommunications Equipment

Regression analysis revealed that UAE would increase both the import and export oftelecommunications equipment within the next five years (2008-2012). It is estimated that the import of suchcommodities would reach around 13.036 billion USD by 2012 (Figure 5A) while the export at 10.146 billionUSD by then (Figure 5B). This indicates that the multi-billion dollar telecommunication industry couldpromise sustainable telecommunications equipment within UAE. Hence, business opportunities over thetrade of these commodities would remain viable and resilient against threats of competition due to the highdemand of the market for innovative and technology-driven telecommunication equipment especially onmobile services and fixed line channels.

y = 900.04x - 2E+06

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Figure 5 UAE’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export of (B) Telecommunications Equipment

The telecommunication presence within UAE is very high. Etisalat has a fixed exchange line capacity of1.4 million telephone lines, 100% digital, of which around 50,000 are ISDN in addition to the leased lines[22]. Moreover, mobile line distribution is 100% (as mentioned in Table 1) indicating a very high mobilephone penetration in UAE. Innovations within the telecommunication industry are highly favored due toUAE’s drive against piracy as an active member of the World Intellectual Property Organization. In fact, thecountry adopts agreements on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement)under the WTO [22]. Hence, this indicates that UAE has the capability to embrace at a national scale, variouse-health development programs due to the very high market penetration of, and the high future demand for,telecommunication equipment suggesting the success of connectivity between and among e-health/e-government stakeholders (G2B, B2B, G2G, B2C, and G2C).

2-1-4 Forecast on the Number (Count) of Internet Users

Regression analysis shows that the number of Internet users in the country could eventually reach to 2.3million (2,295,548) by 2012 (Figure 6). This means that more people would most likely get access to theInternet for online transactions on e-health-related products and services once given an opportunity. Other e-government initiatives include the creation of e-government portal via www.duabi.ae/ [23]. Hence, therewould be an increase in the demand for “click and mortar” channels to accommodate the increasing trend oftransactions on both online and offline market. Hence, e-commerce strategies among business andgovernment institutions should be strengthened to accommodate the entry of more users. Correspondingly,online and offline market channels should be opened up efficiently by conducting extensive information and




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advertising campaigns on e-health/e-government-related products and services via using websites. Further, itis recommended that websites for e-commerce should be updated, secured, and protected to increase usersatisfaction in line with service-level agreements with consumers/users who seek for online tradetransactions such as the Tejari initiative. Hence, newer but similar initiatives are encouraged in themarketplace to accommodate and link more users on online transactions while mitigating the risks of securitythreats and unsolicited promotional hoaxes over the Internet.

y = 127309x - 3E+08

R2

= 0.9550

500,000

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1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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Users

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Forecast Value

Source: IWS (2007)

Figure 6 Forecast on the number (count) of Internet users in UAE

The Internet backbone of UAE has been ideally designed to accommodate upgrades on the transmissioncapacity. In fact, the Fibre Optic Gulf (FOG) project, a fibre optic cable link between UAE, Qatar, Kuwait,and Bahrain, could accommodate transmission capacity of 5Gbps (billions of bits per second) per fiber pairand upgradeable to 10Gbps per fiber pair. Moreover, there is a Fibre Optic Link around the Globe CableSystem which connects Europe to the South Asia via UAE. This connection could be strategically used toconnect online transactions within UAE and across the globe towards the trade of e-health/e-government-related commodities as well as telemedicine network and the like. This could solve enormous Internet trafficvia broadband ISDN, Internet, Video-on-demand and other services to accommodate the growth on onlineusers over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012). Current telemedicine options in UAE include theArab TeleMedicine Network, TelDermServ, TeleMedicine Egypt Network, and the Hospital for sickChildren Teleheath program [22]. Expansion plans for telemedicine and health teleconferencing remainpromising for UAE especially on emirates other than Dubai. Hence, it is expected that the strengthening of e-health programs on telemedicine and video-conferencing could generate profitable business avenues due tothe increasing demand for, and efficient delivery of, healthcare services within UAE and offshore.

2-1-5 Forecast on the GDP per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

Regression analysis revealed that the GDP (PPP) per capita of UAE would eventually reach to anestimated value of 87,240 I$ by 2012 based on CIA’s previous to current assessment (Figure 7) [5]. Thisindicates that UAE citizens have a high capacity to pay for available products and services. Hence, thedemand for e-health/e-government-related products and services would still be high in order to sustain thecapacity of the populace to purchase ICT equipment upgrades and maintain high expectations on the ICTinnovation and development. Such opportunity is in line with the UAE’s development plans for 2008-2011as reported by UNDP [7].

y = 7740x - 2E+07

R2 = 0.8490

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Figure 7 Forecast on the GDP (PPP) per capita in UAE over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012)




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The drive towards economic diversification has prompted UAE to prioritize economic and socialdevelopment on various sectors such as ICT and healthcare under UNDP’s ICT for Development in ArabRegion and the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia [22]. Expansion plans andcorporate entry among ICT businesses remain lucrative if appropriate linkages could be established with thehealthcare sector to meet their increasing demand technology infrastructure. Moreover, newer jobopportunities could be expected for both expatriates and nationals in the country to match the infrastructurebuild-up on both ICT and healthcare sectors. Hence, business opportunities remain very promising in UAEover the next five consecutive years due to their highly diversified economy as a result of better businessclimate and incentives offered by the government.

2-2 Jordan2-2-1 Forecast on the Trade of Pharmaceutical Products

Regression analysis estimates that the values on the import and export of pharmaceutical products wouldreach to 446.75 million USD (Figure 8A) and 498.89 million USD (Figure 8B) by 2012, respectively. Suchincrease would require the opening of online and offline market channels towards the “click and mortar”strategy within the next five consecutive years (2008-2012). For the online channel, the Tejari-Jordan [19]could be utilized as an online portal to facilitate the trade of pharmaceutical products. Hence, the multi-million dollar pharmaceutical sector could look forward to a higher demand on these commodities whileenhancing the network of market channels and portals across Jordan’s booming ICT industry.

y = 26.321x - 52512

R2 = 0.99510

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y = 30.179x - 60220

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Figure 8 Jordan’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of pharmaceutical products

Jordan has been known as the only Arab country which has enforced Pharmaceutical Clinical ResearchLegislation based on the Helsinki Declaration (GCP). For instance, Organon, an international pharmaceuticalcompany developed a pharmaceutical product called Ganrilix that was clinically studied in Jordan before itcan be approved in the United States. Similarly, Takeda clinically tested the anti-inflammatory drug calledDanzen [24]. Such legislation has opened great business opportunities for the Research and Development(R&D) programs among pharmaceutical companies for low-cost clinical trials. Hence, Jordan remainssuitable for the expansion of various international pharmaceutical companies due to the government’ssupport on pharmaceutical R&D.


Regression analysis revealed that the import and export of electronic data processing and officematerials would reach to 245.64 million USD (Figure 9A) and 41.93 million USD (Figure 9B) by 2012,respectively. Correspondingly, the import value is much higher than the export counterpart indicating theneed to open both the online and offline channels to widen the marketplace. In addition, the forecast on theentry of the commodity (import channel) remains more stable than the export channel (R2 values are 0.8285and 0.6898, respectively). As such, secured online portals (such as Tejari-Jordan [19]) are recommended toaccommodate the demand for importation of these commodities and expand the market for export.

Jordan’s e-government initiatives remain promising due to aggressive ICT reforms towards economicdiversification. As a result, the trade of electronic data processors such as PCs and office supplies is expectedto grow over the next five years (2008-2012). Jordan education sector has been increasingly playing asubstantial role in their development programs like the National Broadband Learning and Research Network,




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a high-speed broadband network connecting all public schools [20]. With this, business opportunities remainviable within several medical schools in the country as well as on the demand of PCs among households andstudents as target clientele.

y = 14.071x - 28066

R2 = 0.82850

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Figure 9 Jordan’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of Electronic Data Processing and OfficeMaterials


Regression analysis shows that the import and export of telecommunications equipment are expected torise to 937.54 million USD (Figure 10A) and 285.14 million USD (Figure 10B) by 2012, respectively. Thisindicates that more people would buy telecommunications products over the next five consecutive years(2008-2012) making such sector to be profitable due to the increasing demand for such commodity dueacquired from e-government efforts such as e-health. E-government efforts within Jordan would strengthenthe requirements on newer telecommunication technologies in support of e-government initiatives such as e-health and e-education.

y = 71.107x - 142130

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A. Import B. Export

Figure 10 Jordan’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of Telecommunication Equipment

There are government efforts to reduce the cost associated with the registration and submission of formsfor telecommunications operator licenses as well on the aggressiveness to process accurately the notificationon auctions, new licenses and regulatory changes within the sector. In addition, improved businessenvironment is expected in Jordan within the telecommunications industry to attract investors towards theirgoal on e-government [25]. Moreover, the liberalization of the telecom market (mobile and fixed line) makesJordan a unique environment for telecom investment and has already attracted substantial foreigninvestment. As such, Jordan ended the fixed line monopoly in December 2004 which provides numerous op-portunities for investors. Also, Fastlink, MobileCom, Xpress and Umniah serve Jordan’s mobile market [26].Thus, e-health/e-government initiatives could promise a brighter business climate among investors over thenext five consecutive years (2008-2012).


The forecast on the number (count) of Internet users indicates that by 2012, it could reach to an estimateof 1.25 million (Figure 11). As of 2005, eight ISPs have offered dial-up, leased lines, ADSL, ISDN, frame




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relay, IPVPN, Internet roaming and subscription-free Internet. ADSL service covers a speed of up to twoMbps while the IPVPN remains ideal for businesses allowing them to connect to over 220 locations aroundthe world [26]. E-commerce has been particularly promising as Jordan diversifies the economy through ICTinvestments and trade. In particular, Tejari.com has been vital to the realization of better trade relationsthrough the Internet [20]. Correspondingly, Jordan has been giving telemedicine services for more than adecade now [8]. As such, it is expected that the use of telemedicine would most likely increase Internet usersover the next five consecutive years (2008-2012) due to the increasing Internet users who could avail of suche-health service. As more and more people become educated on the use of ICT, e-health networks couldremain promising. Hence, ISPs could look forward on capturing more clients as Jordan becomes moreaggressive to implement e-health and e-education initiatives.

y = 88210x - 2E+08

R2

= 0.94490

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year

Use

rs(C

ou

nt)

Jordan (Actual InternetUsers, IWS)

Forecast Value

Source: IWS (2007)

Figure 11 Forecast on the number (count) of Internet users in Jordan

2-2-5 Forecast on the GDP per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

The forecast on the GDP (PPP) per capita of Jordan is estimated to reach 5,980 I$ by 2012 (Figure 12).This indicates that Jordan should continue to diversify their economy by establishing macroeconomicmeasures to uplift public-private partnerships. The ICT industry has attracted both foreign and localinvestments which generated high value jobs and produced substantial levels of export [26]. Hence, thepurchasing power of their currency could remain resilient against threats as long as investments in varioussectors such as ICT, education, and healthcare would continue to diversify and stabilize Jordan’s economydespite being a non-GCC.

y = 200x - 396420

R2 = 0.89290

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Year

Inte

rnati

on

al

Do

llars

Jordan (GDP percapita (PPP))

Forecast

Source: CIA (2007)

Figure 12 Forecast on the GDP (PPP) per capita in Jordan over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012)

2-3 Oman2-3-1 Forecast on the Trade of Pharmaceutical Products

The forecast on the trade of pharmaceutical products estimates that the import would reach around 198.6million USD (Figure 13A) while the export at around 4.4 million USD by 2012 (Figure 13B). The import ofpharmaceutical products grows sufficiently while the export remains relatively of low volume. This indicatesthe investors could look forward on higher volume of import of pharmaceutical products. Correspondingly,




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new players in the import channel may look forward on their entry in the market over the next fiveconsecutive years while current players in the export channel may continue to sustain their presence. Hence,the import channels remain more dynamic than the export one owing to the large disparities in the marketvolume of these commodities.

y = 11x - 21933

R2 = 0.97490

50

100

150

200

250

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year

US

Dat

cu

rren

tp

rices

(Mil

lio

ns)

Oman (Actual Valueon Import ofPharmaceutical;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

y = 0.3x - 599.2

R2 = 0.750

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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US

Dat

cu

rren

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(Mil

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Oman (Actual Valueon Export ofPharmaceutical;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

A. Import B. Export

Figure 13 Oman’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of pharmaceutical products

The emergence of pharmaceutical competitiveness could be attributed to Oman’s medical tourism,offering low cost medical care than that of the US or Europe. Also, the Free Trade Agreement has resulted tointellectual protection of innovative pharmaceutical products created in the country; thereby protecting thelocal manufacturers. Moreover, the growth of expatriates creates a higher demand for healthcare within theprivate sector since these patients are not included in the public healthcare scheme [27]. Lastly, the e-commerce and e-trading sites such as Tejari Oman could be taken as a strategic initiative to boost theperformance of capturing such increase in the demand for pharmaceutical products [19].


The import forecast for Oman on electronic data processing and office materials could reach to anestimated value of 247.8 million USD by 2012 (Figure 14A) while the export remains less predictable(R2=0.6207) though seems to be declining from 2000-2004 (Figure 14B). As such, investment potentialremains viable for the import channel than the export one. With this, the forecast on the import of dataprocessors such as PCs is stable enough to predict that the demand for the commodity would most likelyincrease over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012). This indicates that the market would still remainresilient over threats of low PC penetration (47 out of 1000 inhabitants, a little below the MENA average of48 as shown previously in Table 1).

y = 15x - 29932

R2 = 0.90120

50

100

150

200

250

300

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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UIS

Dat

cu

rren

tp

ric

es

(Mil

lio

ns)

Oman (Actual Valueon Import of DataProcessors; (WTO,2007))

Forecast

y = -1.2x + 2408.8

R2 = 0.6207

0

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4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

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Oman (Actual Valueon Export of DataProcessors; (WTO,2007))

Forecast

A. Import B. Export

Figure 14 Oman’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of Electronic Data Processing and OfficeMaterials

It is strongly recommended that the government should push for aggressive measures to enhance thepublic’s access to ICT tools such as PCs by encouraging the use of e-government infrastructures andprograms. For instance, Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM), a technology park, is involved in the productionand assembly of PCs. It establishes customer contact and service centers for Arab countries and providesarabization of products. KOM targets to produce and design advanced computer hardware and software




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products [28]. Hence, from these initiatives, the import would accommodate several e-government programssuch as e-health which requires more volume of PCs and office materials in the market.


Regression estimates that by 2012, the import value of telecommunications equipment would approachto 472.6 million USD (Figure 15A) while export remains unpredictable (R2 is 0.3939) though showsdeclining tendency since 2001 (Figure 15B). The lucrative investment potential for those companies thatimport such commodities to Oman remains promising over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012).With this, Oman’s Telecommunication Regulatory Authority handles the issuance of licenses, establishment,operation and maintenance of telecommunication services. As such, the agency allows 100% foreigninvestment and ownership in the IT sector [28].

y = 28.8x - 57473

R2 = 0.55790

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year

US

Dat

cu

rren

tp

rices

Oman (Actual Valueon Import of Telecom;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

y = -3.1x + 6253.2

R2 = 0.39390

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20

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40

50

60

70

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

Year

US

Da

tc

urr

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(Mil

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)

Oman (Actual Valueon Export of Telecom;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

A. Import B. Export

Figure 15 Oman’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of Telecommunication Equipment

The telecommunications and teleconferencing for medical-use are not widely used. The Ministry ofHealth is making strategies to develop the Continuous Medical Education with the National Telecomoperator to build large tele-education infrastructure using IP over ATM. Pilot projects include 5 hospitals andthe Ministry’s headquarters. Currently, IT resources are used to maintain in-house HIS and relatedapplications such as telemedicine [28]. Further, the Tejari Oman could play a vital role on the trade oftelecommunication equipment upon implementing these e-health initiatives.


The number (count) of Internet users could reach to 472,256 by 2012 (Figure 16). It is expected that theincrease in the volume of Internet users could be supported by e-government initiatives that encouragespeople to utilize the advantages of the web. In this case, the government-owned OmanTel, the major providerof fixed line and Internet services, could provide sufficient promotional advertisement on the current e-government programs such as e-health initiatives together with Tejari-Oman [19].

y = 31024x - 6E+07

R2

= 0.98140

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year

Us

ers

(Co

un

t)

Oman (Actual InternetUsers, IWS)

Forecast

Source: IWS (2007)

Figure 16 Forecast on the number (count) of Internet users in Oman




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Oman’s Internet backbone could provide digital data network, mobile fax and data service, SMS, ISDN,ATM, WLL, VSAT and SDH among others. OmanTel plans to increase the bandwidth for the Internetconnectivity to support fast and efficient transactions. It also recently joined the growing network ofinstitutions in the Tejari Oman marketplace [19]. In addition, OmanTel is affiliated with the ThurayaSatellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd based in UAE which operates a mobile satellite system spanning 106countries, with the ability to switch its services through satellite transmission when users travel outside GSMnetwork [28]. This indicates the wide-array of Internet options for users to choose from. Correspondingly,telemedicine network could be easily implemented with the growing number of potential e-health users.Hence, Internet users would increase over the next five consecutive years allowing access to several e-government efforts such as e-health services.

2-3-5 Forecast on the GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

The GDP PPP per capita could potentially reach an estimated value of 21,300 I$ by 2012 based onCIA’s initial assessment (Figure 17) [5]. Oman’s e-government efforts remain promising due to the great jobopportunities for those who would like to work in either the ICT or Healthcare sectors. Government effortsto strengthen the education system would be vital for the growth of the purchasing power among citizensthrough the build-up of their knowledge economy. Such initiatives focus on the vocational and technicaltraining. Also, the Sanad Fund offers low-interest loans for young Omani entrepreneurs to start their ownbusiness towards entrepreneurship. Many Omani firms have partnered with private US IT educators toestablish IT institutes in Oman [28]. Correspondingly, the growth of e-health initiatives would open jobopportunities within the ICT and healthcare sectors. Hence, there is an expected increase on the number of e-health enthusiasts which could be supported by the Oman government’s plan and initiatives to build the ICTsector and encourage public-private partnership.

y = 1260x - 3E+06

R2 = 0.69120

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Year

Inte

rnati

on

al

Do

llars

Oman (GDP percapita (PPP))

Forecast

Source: CIA (2007)

Figure 17 Forecast on the GDP (PPP) per capita in Oman over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012)

2-4 Saudi Arabia2-4-1 Forecast on the Trade of Pharmaceutical Products

Regression analysis estimates that by 2012, the import value of pharmaceutical products would reach to3.04925 billion USD (Figure 18A) while the export at 207.85 million USD (Figure 18B). This supports thatthe pharmaceutical industry remains to be a lucrative business sector over the next five consecutive years(2008-2012) especially on the import channel which continues to be a multi-billion dollar investment. Tocapture this opportunity, pharmaceutical companies should focus on current e-health programs of thegovernment and create bilateral agreements on efficient delivery of pharmaceutical product to varioushospital channels within the Kingdom. Moreover, it is recommended that both online and offline marketpresence should be captured to expand the linkage of transactions.

Saudi Arabia’s pharmaceutical industry is the largest in the Gulf with an estimated of 2,400 pharmaciesand more than 4,600 registered drugs (generic and patented) [29]. However, the Saudi Ministry of Health isstill applying a non-pricing policy and takes unilateral decisions related to pricing of pharmaceuticals. Also,the process for obtaining marketing approval in Saudi Arabia is lengthy [30]. Hence, it is recommended thatthe Saudi Arabian government provides a bilateral agreement with traders to facilitate better business climateover the trade of pharmaceutical products. In this way, the expected growth in the market could be easilyrealized over the next five years (2008-2012).




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y = 188.82x - 376859

R2 = 0.96170

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1000

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3500

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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US

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cu

rren

tp

ric

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(Mil

lio

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Saudi Arabia (ActualValue on Import ofPharmaceutical;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

y = 16.686x - 33364

R2 = 0.74030

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1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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US

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(Mil

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Saudi Arabia (ActualValue on Export ofPharmaceutical;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

A. Import B. Export

Figure 18 Saudi Arabia’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of pharmaceutical products


Regression analysis estimates that by 2012, the import value of electronic data processing and officematerials would reach to 2.1912 billion USD (Figure 19A) while the export at 94.96 million USD (Figure19B). The forecast on the import value remains more predictable than the export channel (R2 are 0.7868 and0.5246, respectively) though both follow an increasing trend until 2012. This indicates that the demand forthe import of data processors such as PCs would increase over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012).Traders should capture this opportunity by utilizing both online and offline channels to optimize marketpresence and build competitive advantages.

y = 163.79x - 327346

R2 = 0.78680

500

1000

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2500

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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Dat

cu

rren

tp

ric

es

(Mil

lio

ns)

Saudi Arabia (ActualValue on Import ofData Processors;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

y = 8.1714x - 16346

R2 = 0.5246

010

2030

4050

6070

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1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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US

Da

tc

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(Mil

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Saudi Arabia (ActualValue on Export ofData Processors;(WTO, 2007))

Forecast

A. Import B. Export

Figure 19 Saudi Arabia’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of Electronic Data Processing andOffice Materials

The growth of PCs in the market is a public-private partnership through initiatives such as the Home PCprogram which targets to deliver millions of PCs to Saudi homes. It enables citizens to own high-end PCs, atreduced prices, through a low cost monthly installment. The package includes desktop applications, monthlyfree Internet access hours, and wide range of Arabic digital literature. In this way, online and offline marketchannels are doable due to promotional campaigns on the use of ICT tools such as PCs. Moreover, theMinistry of Health has launched the Electronic Health Record (EHR) database that connects to all HIS in thekingdom to allow the transfer of data and records electronically and build a national electronic healthcaresystem [31]. Hence, e-health programs would continue to mobilize the high demand for data processors toaccommodate the increasing requirements on these commodities as these initiatives become more popular.

2-4-3 Forecast on Trade of Telecommunications Equipment

Regression predicts that the import of telecommunications equipment would reach to 5.1453 billionUSD (Figure 20A) while the export at 100.28 million USD (Figure 20B) by 2012. The telecom industry inSaudi Arabia is expected to support the e-health programs by providing telemedicine and teleconferencinghardware infrastructure. Currently, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC)facilitates these initiatives using a wide-area network of various MOH hospitals. Moreover, the NationalTelemedicine Network connected-sites were increased allowing regional clinic to be connected [31]). Hence,telecommunication equipment is expected to rise over the next five consecutive years to accommodate theincreasing demand for telecommunication infrastructure.




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y = 385.75x - 770984

R2 = 0.86760

1000

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6000

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tp

ric

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(Mil

lio

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Forecast

y = 7.2571x - 14501

R2 = 0.733

0

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da

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A. Import B. Export

Figure 20 Saudi Arabia’s trade forecast on the import of (A) and export (B) of Telecommunication Equipment


The number (count) of Internet users in Saudi Arabia is estimated to reach 7.3 million (7,308,621) by2012 (Figure 21). The Internet penetration in Saudi has a high potential owing to their large population base.Though Internet provision has been liberalized, access to online channels remains regulated by the KingAbdul Aziz City for Science and Technology and the Saudi Network Information Center that restrictoffensive websites. Currently, there is no fee for a domain name registration under “.sa”. Also, the domainname registration has no expiration and the registration does not need to be renewed either [31]. Hence, e-commerce initiatives related to the trade e-health/e-government products and services remains promising forbusinesses seeking for online presence. Such an approach, could lead to better “click and mortar” strategiesto expand the market through e-commerce opportunities within the Kingdom.

y = 596897x - 1E+09

R2

= 0.95220

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

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Users

(Count)

Saudi Arabia (ActualInternet Users, IWS)

Forecast

Source: IWS (2007)

Figure 21 Forecast on the number (count) of Internet users in Saudi Arabia

The government’s e-government initiatives such as e-health programs could be utilized as a portal towhich citizens could get access to several programs such as online trading and e-commerce. The use ofTejari Saudi Arabia LLC (www.saudi.tejari.com [19]) remains to be an ideal portal where businesses (G2Band B2B) and other Middle East governments (G2G, G2B, and G2C) could be linked with the Saudi Arabianonline market [19]. Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s Yesser initiative (www.yesser.gov.sa) plays a fundamental roletowards G2B, G2C, and G2G linkages in the realization of e-government programs. Other initiatives such asEasyNet and e-Award remain promising towards the efficient e-health/e-government programs [32]. Hence,online and offline market channels could be easily opened for Internet users to gain access to e-governmentservices such as e-health due to increasing volume of users.

2-4-5 Forecast on the GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

The GDP (PPP) per capita of Saudi Arabia could reach to 17,450 I$ by 2012 (Figure 22). Though SaudiArabia has the a very high nominal GDP among the Arab countries due to the trade of oil, it is still not at parwith the GDP (PPP) of UAE and this could be attributed to the high population base of Saudi Arabia. Hence,more aggressive economic diversification is recommended in order to meet the demanding result ofpopulation expansion. From there, newer and more job opportunities among Saudi nationals could be seen as




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an ideal strategy to reduce the rate of unemployment and empower citizens to purchase commodities [33]. Inaddition, the development of e-health programs would open job opportunities among nationals who seekemployment within the ICT and healthcare sectors. Hence, e-health initiatives remain vital to the saudizationefforts and knowledge economy within Saudi Arabia.

y = 750x - 1E+06

R2 = 0.95990

2,000

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2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

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Saudi Arabia (GDPper capita (PPP))

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Source: CIA (2007)

Figure 22 Forecast on the GDP (PPP) per capita in Saudi Arabia over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012)

3- STRATEGIC E-HEALTH DEPLOYMENT

Strategic partnerships between the healthcare and ICT sectors are the wave of the future, as healthsystems are implemented. The extent at which strategic partnerships with the ICT sector will evolve intodynamic e-health alliances is directly related to the quality of national and regional governance leadership-the ultimate nexus of evolving e-health systems of the future [34]. Also, the probability that e-commerce canrevolutionize healthcare delivery depends on the profitability of several different and simultaneous businessdevelopment activities. Obstacles in the path of health e-commerce are numerous and include future datastandardization, privacy regulations, and legislation as well as market downturn which may limit thedevelopment resources [35]. Hence, strategic alliances on the implementation of e-health-related businessopportunities should be taken as an intelligent step towards regional cooperation.

The increasing demand for ICT commodities would ensure faster return on investment (ROI) despitethe high initial investment that should be allocated to facilitate trade of these commodities. There is also anapparent increase in e-commerce sites such as Tejari.com, ArabTrade.com and many others that allow forbetter stakeholder linkages. However, security of online transactions remains to be a limiting factor thatrestricts full adoption of these online options [12]. Despite of this threat, the “click and mortar” businessmodel remains resilient and could still be considered as the best practice in developing e-trade and e-businessopportunities for e-health deployment along with other e-government initiatives.

4- CONCLUSION

The e-health initiative should be taken as an opportunity to increase general revenue through private-public partnership. Such economic diversification efforts could streamline the necessary public protection onhealthcare by giving opportunities to patients to utilize the benefits of ICT infrastructure in the delivery ofcare through the synergy of ICT and healthcare sectors. Also, business opportunities across several e-government initiatives such as e-health remain promising due to the increasing demand for ICT commoditiesthat drive patients to acquire healthcare services using technological advancements.

The five-year market forecasts on the import (from the world) and export (to the world) ofpharmaceutical products, data processors, telecommunication equipment as well as the number (count) ofInternet users and GDP (PPP) per capita could be taken as a support to the growing business potential withinthe Middle East for the delivery of e-health-related products and services. Such expansion of these ICTbusiness agenda could be well utilized if larger market channels could be opened to allow customers andinstitutions to choose on a variety of portals. This can be resolved by the development of both online andoffline channels for transactions and linkages whether G2B, B2B, B2C, G2C, or G2G.




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It is recommended to utilize the “click and mortar” business model in the delivery of e-health-relatedproducts and services as a strategy for the expansion of the market. This also provides a double-edged reformprogram in providing extensive healthcare options while leveraging the protection of ICT investment inmanaging cost for trade due to faster ROI. Hence, the ‘click and mortar” business model could solve theexpansion of market channels in order to optimally capture the increasing demand for e-health-relatedproducts and services over the next five consecutive years (2008-2012). Correspondingly- e-trade and e-commerce options such Tejari.com could be taken as a regional best practice towards regional cooperationon e-government initiatives.

5- REFERENCES

[1] Al-Shorbaji, N. (2006), “WHO EMRO’s approach for supporting e-health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region” EasternMediterrnean Health Journal Vol 12, Supplement 2. S238-S252.

[2] Borthwick, J. and Horton, R. (2006), “The Middle East and Health” The Lancet Vol. 367, March: 961-964.

[3] Musgrove, P. (2004) “The Economics of Choosing and Financing Public Health Services” In: Pierre-Louis, A.M., Akala, F.A.and Karam, H.S. (eds) Public Health in the Middle East and North Africa, WBI Learning Resource Series, The World Bank,Washington, D.C.

[4] WHO (2007). “Data and Statistics” http://www.who.int/research/en/

[5] CIA (2007) “World Fact Book”, http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

[6] EMRO (2007) “E-Health in the Eastern Mediterranean” <http://www.emro.who.int/his/ehealth/ehealthPlan.htm

[7] UNDP (2007) “New Country Programme Documents” http://www.undp.org/arabstates/cpd.shtml

[8] ESCWA (2005) “Regional Profile of the Information Society in Western Asia” http://www.escwa.un.org/information/publications/edit/upload/ictd-05-6.pdf

[9] World Bank (2005) “ICT at a Glance” http://go.worldbank.org/FDTYJVBR60

[10] IWS (2007) “Internet World Stats” http://www.internetworldstats.com/

[11] WTO (2007) “WTO Statistics Time Series” http://stat.wto.org/StatisticalProgram/WSDBStat ProgramHome.aspx?Language=E

[12] Whitten, P. Steinfield, C. and Hellmich, S. (2001) “E-health: Market Potential and Business Strategies”http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN013622.pdf

[13] Steinfield, C., Adelaar, T. and Liu, F. (2005) “Click and Mortar Strategies Viewed from the Web: A Content Analysis ofFeatures Illustrating Integration between Retailers’ Online and Offline Presence” http://www.msu.edu/~steinfie/ EM_2005.pdf

[14] Kirigia, J.M., Seddoh, A., Gatwiri, D., Muthuri, L.H.K., and Seddoh, J. (2005) “E-health: Determinants, opportunities,challenges and the way forward for countries in the WHO African Region” BMC Public Health Vol. 5. No 137: December

[15] Schieber, G., Baeza, C., Kress, D., and Maier, M. (2006). “Financing Health Systems in the 21st Century” http://files.dcp2.org/pdf/DCP/DCP12.pdf

[16] O’Dell, S. and McGoldrick, C. (2001) “Realizing positive returns from your e-health investments” Healthcare FinancialManagement. Vol. 55. No. 2, February: 51-55.

[17] Rawabdeh, A.A.A. (2007). “An e-health trend plan for the Jordanian healthcare system: a review” International Journal ofHealth Care Quality Assurance. Vol 20, No. 6:, 516-531.

[18] Rappa, M.A. (2004). “The utility business model and the future of computing services” IBM Systems Journal, Vol 43, No. 1,3342.

[19] Tejari (2007), “Tejari: The Middle East Online Marketplace”, http://www.tejari.com/English

[20] Dutta, S., Shalhoub, Z.K., Samuels, G. (2007) “Promoting Technology and Innovation: Recommendations to Improve ArabICT Competitiveness” World Economic Forum, Enhancing Drivers of Growth in the Arab Worldhttp://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/ Reports/chapters/2_3.pdf

[21] MAIT (2003) “Dubai ICT Industry” Country Intelligence, Vol. 19 September, http//www.elcot.com/mait-reports/MAIT%20country%20Intelligence%20eNews19.pdf

[22] ESCWA (2005) “National Profile for the Information Society in the United Arab Emirates” United Nations Economic andSocial Commission for Western Asia” http://www.escwa.org.lb/wsis/reports/docs/UAE_2005-E.pdf

[23] Sofiane, S. (2005) “E-government in the Arab Gulf: Government Transformation vs. Government Automation” eGovernmentWorkshop 2005, Brunel University, in Wes London, UK, 13 September

[24] Al-Saket, I. (2005) “e-Health in Jordan”. Euro-Mediterranean Conference, in Barcelona, 14-15 Nov

[25] Al-Omari, H. (2006) “E-Government Architecture in Jordan: A Comparative Analysis” Journal of Computer Science Vol 2,No. 11, 846-852.

[26] MOICT (2005) “Invest in ICT in Jordan: Jordan’s growing and competitive ICT landscape offers attractive investmentopportunities” http://www.moict.gov.jo/MoICT/downloads%5CInvest%20in%20Jordan.pdf

[27] Piribo (2007) “Oman Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare” http://www.piribo.com/publications/country/middle_east/oman_pharmaceuticals_amp_healthcare.html




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[28] ESCWA (2005) “National Profile for the Information Society in Oman” United Nations Economic and Social Commission forWestern Asia”, http://www.escwa.org.lb/wsis/reports/docs/Oman_2005-E.pdf

[29] Saudi Embassy (2006) “Political and Economic Reform in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”http://saudiembassy.net/ReportLink/KSA%20Report%20Dec06.pdf

[30] PhRMA (2007) “Saudi Arabia” Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. http://www.international.phrma.org/.../download/1124/6207/file/Saudi%20Arabia%202007%20Special%20301%20Submission.pdf

[31] ESCWA (2005) “National Profile for the Information Society in Saudi Arabia” United Nations Economic and SocialCommission for Western Asia, http://www.escwa.un.org/information/publications/edit/upload/ictd-07-TP-3-e.pdf

[32] CITC (2005) “Saudi Arabia-towards the Information Society” Communications and Information Technology Commission,Saudi Arabia, http://www.yesser.gov.sa/documents/ksa-to-information-society.pdf

[33] Looney, R. (2004) “Saudization and Sound Economic Reforms: Are the Two Compatible? Strategic Insights, Volume 3, No. 2,February

[34] Caro, D.H.J. (2005) “The Axis and Nexus of e-Health Alliances in 2020” Canadian Journal of Public Health. Vol. 96, No. 4,Jul Aug: 291-293.

[35] Parente, S.T. (2000) “Beyond the Hype: A Taxonomy of E-health Business Models” Health Affairs, Vol. 19, No. 6,November/December: 89-102.

5- eServices Experiences and Successes5-14 The Features of the Web Site of the Branch of The Industry and Commerce Ministry in the Eastern Province Mr. Mousa Jaafar AlKhadhabah



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5-14 THE FEATURES OF THE WEB SITE OF THEBRANCH OF THE INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

MINISTRY IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE

Mr. Mousa Jaafar AlKhadhabah

Branch of The Industry and Commerce MinistryIn the Eastern Provice

[email protected]


Abstract

The presentation discusses the following issues:

The services of the Branch of Industry and Commerce Ministry Services: the ministry of Commercebranch offers many services, such as settling commerce documents, fighting fraud, issuing licenses tohotels, exhibitions and restaurants, issuing certificates of origin, combating commercial concealment,issuing licenses to businesses and commercial agencies. It also issues the commercial registrationhandbook which is the most important service that is offered by the branch.

Computer systems: The ministry website and all computer systems are linked to a central sever andcontrolled by the Information and Computer Center in Riyadh. Thus, there was a question mark aboutwhich the type electronic services that can be provided by the branch. The answer was to provide e-information about the branch procedures and to create official forms that can be used by the public.

Website Design: The branch website was designed to provide customers with general information,procedures and forms, branch news, and how to contact the branch. It also includes some web site’slinks.

Future Plan: This service is considered to be the first step, and there is a hope that all services of thebranch can be accessed through the web site in the near future.

Keywords:

Web Sites, e-Information, Industry and Commerce Ministry.

Biography:

Mr. Mousa Alkhadabah was born in Shawal 1390 H. He works now as a Deputy Chair of theComputer Department in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Eastern Province. He has more than18 years experience in several programming languages. He worked as a computer programmer inpreparing the training and mission programs of the Ministry of Health at Riyadh. He also worked in theMinistry of commerce in Riyadh and Dammam. He was responsible for programming and data processingof various types of commercial permits, law cases for the legal department in addition to designing theweb site of the branch.


5-15 Prince Mohammed Ben Fahad Uiniversity Eservices Experience Mr. Osama S. AlSaif



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5-15 PRINCE MOHAMMED BEN FAHAD UINIVERSITYESERVICES EXPERIENCE

Mr. Osama S AlSaif, MTA, MBA

Acting CIO and MIS DirectorRince Mohammed Ben Fahad Uiniversity

[email protected].


Abstract:

This paper discusses the successful implementation of the eServices at Prince MohammadUniversity.

Prince Mohammad University (PMU) was established in 2006 under the instruction; supervision andclose care and attention of HRH Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd, Governor of the Eastern Province. Theland designated for the project was a donation from HRH and is located in the half-moon bay inAzeezyah. The first academic semester has already started with around 600 students from both genders.

Information Technology (IT) has helped to facilitate workflows by using the University web site foronline registration of students, student admission and through the use of course management suit(Blackboard) to facilitate interaction between the student and the tutor. Also, the wireless network on thecampus has guaranteed fluent accessibility to the campus eservices and the Internet. The onlineeducational subject registration and the subscription to English Language Institute (ELI) mean that PMUeservices are no longer restricted to time and place. Also plans are drawn to implement electronic gates toaccess and enter to the University buildings and to facilitate the internal e-Purse initiative.

The use of the Blackboard application would achieve an interactive student-tutor interaction, monitorthe number of visitors to the online services, help to reduce the effort, traveling time for students. Thus itproves that application of the suitable technology would led to an interactive and successful learningenvironment.

The IT Infrastructure services at PMU depend on what is feasible, practical and could achieve theacademic objectives and scientific research purposes. This would be made through the implementation ofEnterprise Resources Planning (ERP), High Speed Networks and the application of the e-technology inPMU lecture halls.

Keywords:

eServices, eEducation, University Education, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Mr Osama was born in Qatif, Saudi Arabia in March 1971. He graduated from KFUPM with a BScin ICS in May, 1994. He got his Master in Management of Information Technology from SunderlandUniversity in 2000 and his CAPM from PMI in 2005. Recently, he completed the MBA program at theUniversity of Liverpool. At present, he works at Prince Mohammad University as Acting CIO and MISDirector.


5-16 Neelwafurat.Com Library: Neelwafurat.Com Experience in Selling Arabic Books over the Internet Mr. Salah Chebaro



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5-16 NEELWAFURAT.COM LIBRARY: NEELWAFURAT.COMEXPERIENCE IN SELLING ARABIC BOOKS OVER THE

INTERNET AND HOW TO BENEFIT FROM THE GROWING E-COMMERCE SECTOR

Mr. Salah Chebaro

Managing Director of Neelwafurat.com [email protected]


Abstract:

The presentation overviews a number of major stages that Neelwafurat.com went through, what hasbeen achieved, what are the future plans and vision for the online book store and electronic commerce asa whole in the Middle East region. Also, it discusses the problems and obstacles and possible remedieswould be and how the use of e-commerce could be promoted in the Middle East region.

Biography:

Salah Chebaro is a Lebanese citizen born in Beirut in 1974. Graduated with a BS degree ofComputer science from Lebanese American University in 1996. Worked in several IT programmingfields such as multimedia projects and databases and as an editor of the Internet World magazine. Finallyhe has been the directing manager of Neelwafurat.com since 1999.

5- eServices Experiences and Successes5-17 Achievements of Information Technology Department at Saudi Organization Of Industrial Estates & Technology Zones (SOIETZ) Eng. Saleh Al-Rasheed



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5-17 ACHIEVEMENTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYDEPARTMENT At SAUDI ORGANIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL ESTATES &

TECHNOLOGY ZONES (SOIETZ)

Eng. Saleh I. Al-Rasheed

IT & Telecommunication ManagerSaudi Organization for Industrial

Estates & Technology Zones (SOIETZ)[email protected].


Abstract:

SOIETZ Information Technology Department is promoting the use of IT as the way of the future. Ithas embarked several projects that aim to facilitate the smooth and efficient provision of e-services to itsclients, the industrialists, and provide a better environment for its employees. The following projectswould enable SOIETZ to offer high quality services to its clients:

MS Great Plains Dynamics: This ERP system from Microsoft serves as a financial tool for allaccount related issues for generating account statements, budgets and statistical reports. It canalso be used for HR development.

SOIETZ Intranet include the profile for each employee, employee’s directory, SOIETZ news andmemo’s, SMS messages and IT and electronic services support through the IT Help Desk.

The IT Department has developed a new dynamic interactive SOIETZ Website that contains in-depth information, statistics and links which would assist the potential investors to gatherinformation and for decision making. Received Queries can be answered within one workingday.

The Online e-land request project, automates the process of land lease application submission,follow-up and contract signing. Thus it enables smooth communications between the investorsand SOIETZ.

A dedicated Internal Network Infrastructure, including wireless network, firewalls and anti-virussecurity system, VPN facility and newsletter.

Compulsory ICDL training for employees.

Projects that are under implementation include electronic linking of SOIETZ branch offices, IPTelephony System and Property Management System.

Keywords:

SOIETS, Website, Online e-land request, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Eng. Saleh was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in August 1978. He holds a Bachelor Degree in ComputerScience from King Saud University, Riyadh. He was the IT Infrastructure Manager in Saudi Telecom (STC).Eng. Al-Rasheed had worked as Chief of Internet Services at Sultan Bin AbdulAziz Program for Educationaland Medical Telecommunication (MeduNet). He is currently the IT & Telecommunication Manager at SaudiOrganization of Industrial Estates and Technology Zones (SOIETZ). He has vast experience in ITInfrastructure Management and had several certificates in that field.


5-18 Human Resources Website (HR Online) at Saudi ARAMCO Mr. Isa M. Al-Hashem



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5-18 HUMAN RESOURCES WEBSITE (HR ONLINE) AT SAUDI ARAMCO.

Mr. Isa M. Al-Hashem

Business System AnalystHuman Resources Services Optimization Division, Personnel Department

Saudi [email protected]


Abstract:

This paper provides an overview of Saudi ARAMCO experience in leveraging technology to offerHR information and services for its employees through the HR Online web site. This web site waslaunched by the Personnel Department in 2002. The site contains HR services that employees can reachremotely from their desktop without the need to visit the HR services department. The web site also has asection called “My Personal information” which enables staff to view their own information and update iton a regular basis. The Personal Information section includes monthly salary statement, job history,training history and statement of the pension that the employee will get upon retirement. In addition to itcontains data about the employee and his eligible dependent family members. The paper also examinessome HR services such as: employment certificates, immunization and blood group certificates, bookingand cancellation of medical appointments, service awards, donation programs, e-files, vacation planneretc. The web site has also a feedback feature that enables employees to send their comments andsuggestions for improvement of the site which would be used to ensure that the site remains update todate with the latest developments in e-technology and HR services. The paper concludes by providingsome statistics related to the usage of HR Online and a summary of the various HR Services that will beadded to the site in the near future.

Keywords:

e-Services, Human Resources Services, Employees Services, Saudi ARAMCO.

Biography:

Mr. Isa was born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia in June 1980. He obtained a bachelor degree inComputer Science from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia in January 2004.He joined Saudi ARAMCO after graduation as an SAP System Analyst in SAP Design Department. Thus,he moved to the Human Resources Services Optimization Division, Personnel Department as a BusinessSystem Analyst. Mr Isa is responsible for the development and the support of the HR Online web site.


5-19 eGovernment Projects in Alahssa Municipality Mr. Hamdan Odah AlBalwi



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5-19 E-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS IN ALAHSSA MUNICIPALITY

Mr. Hamdan Odah AlBalwi

Alhasa MunicipalityGeneral Manager of IT

[email protected]


Abstract:

Mayor of Alhasa District Eng. Fahed M.AlJubeer has established IT Department to beresponsible of converting all project in the Municipality to be computerize at the end of 1426.The Managenebt of IT achievements during the last two years in reference to the MinistryCouncil decision to transfer it into General Management for Information Technology (G.M.I.T)at the end of 1428 .

After municipality finishing internal network connection in the main building and externalnetwork connection in sub branches and link all with each others in one main server, allconcentrations now go towards requalification of stuff. A study has already been preparedcovering almost all employees. It focuses on how municipality stuff may accept electronicchanges. Projects include electronic entry website for Alhasa Municipality. Through thiswebsite more than 15 electronic services have become effective and available to citizen some ofthese service include direct search of: any daily transaction in or out from municipality, landinformation system especially in majestic orders, new projects and announcing about time ofintroducing applicants from contractors, investment projects, project inside cities and suburbs,shop's license and realize from renewed, all learning courses which introduced to our stuff fordeveloping their skills, licensed shop attached with history file about activity, any licensed shopto see all violations, licensed engineering offices, new employment applications, and dailyaccidents and death.

The IT System offers also SMS messages to be circulated online with citizen and promptlyreply to their questions. It also include an electronic communication management systemallowing in and out daily mail; it's access now is by barcode machine. Moreover, the IT Systemof AlHassa Municipality has other programs for personal affairs avd payroll and for generalinformation system which include more than 10 electronic services systems covering support,utility, licensing (vocational – healthy – technical), follow up, rents and contracts, collection,and land information.

All databases are joined with the main server at the main building. The IT Department hasa self service system, fixed one computer in main building, anyone can use easily, introducedfree internet service in summer carnival which named Hasana Fallah.

The Department published copybooks for the awareness of egovernment concepts, it heldseveral conference meetings with other government agencies related to municipality functionsthrough network connections such as work office, electric company, communications.

Keywords:

SOIETS, Website, Online e-land request, Saudi Arabia.

Biography:

Eng. Hamdan Awdah AL-Aradi AL-Balawi is the Genral Manager of Alhasa MunicipalityIT Department. He got his B. Sc. Degree from King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah in ComputerScience. He got Project Management PMP and Network Engineer MCSE certificates. He is amember of Saudi Council of Engineers and the Saudi Computer Society.


5-20 Electronic Social Insurance (eGOSI) Mr. Nawaf M Al Badia



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5-20 Electronic Social Insurance (eGOSI)

Mr. Nawaf M Al Badia

IT Department, General Organization for Social InsuranceSenior System [email protected]


Abstract:

This paper highlights eservices that are provided by the GOSI to individual subscribers, as well aseservices to organizations, hospitals and government agencies. This paper includes a summary of theexperiments and electronic projects that were undertaken by GOSI throughout more than three decadessince the foundation of GOSI. GOSI has developed its website GOSIOnline to become a digital portal toits main SIMIS system, which provides subscribers an access to their personal insurance system and canmake inquiries about their subscriptions. GOSIOnline website contains many features that wouldfacilitate and accelerate services to the subscribers. To promote communications between the GOSI’ssystem and subscribers, GOSI has provided mobile phone short messages service as a channel ofcommunication and that seems to be the fastest way for subscribers to get information. Among theservices provided to the subscribers is the possibility of making payment through the ATM machines thatinterface electronically with the system and report about the payments that has been made so far. GOSIalso has worked hard to establish a communication mechanism between its system and the systems oforganizations, hospitals and government agencies. To achieve this effective connectivity GOSI hasprovided different channels continue to suit the needs of these subscribers who can benefit fromelectronic services provided at Gosionline. To achieve the highest level of the enterprise networkingautomation technology, GOSI adopted Web Services technology to create a suitable environment tocommunicate between B2B sectors. However, some of these sectors were not able to communicatethrough this technique; thus they are provided with other channels of communication, such as thecapability of data loading on the web site or use special solutions tailored to the user. GOSI accomplishedvarious successful projects which have unique features such as the security feature of the firewalls, digitalcertificates, electronic signatures, Web Services, XML-HTTP and mobile phone short messages.

Keywords:

eServices, eGovernment, Interoperability, GOSI, General Organization for Social Insurance.

Biography:

Mr Nawaf holds a B. Sc. degree in Computer Science from King Saud University at Riyadh city. Heis preparing MS degree at the same university. He had worked as project manager for KACST’s SearchEngine Project, and participated in many open community projects. Currently he is working as seniorsystem engineer at GOSI and member of the advance developers group. He is mainly involved in the coresystems at GOSI as a solution architect. He is also GOSI’s SOA team architect and consultant. His mainarea of interest is interoperability between heterogeneous systems, SOA design patterns and enterprisesystems development. Mr Nawaf is a member of Saudi Computer Society, JCP, ACM and IEEEcommunity.

Final Recommendations



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FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS

In the name of Allah; all praise to Allah; and peace be upon the Messenger ofAllah, and upon his family, companions, and followers.

After the conclusion of the activities of Third e-Services Symposium in theEastern Province- the next step, the attendances came to the followingrecommendations:

First: The symposium attendances extend their gratitude and appreciations to HisRoyal Highness Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd Ben Abdulaziz, the Prince of theEastern Province, for his patronage of the Symposium; to His Royal Highness PrinceJelwy Ben Abdulaziz Ben Musaad, the Deputy of the Prince of the Eastern Province,for his opening of the Symposiumthe; and to the Government of the Custodian of theTwo Holly Mosques for the support it offers to the eService in the Eastern Province.

Second: The symposium attendances agreed on the following recommendations:

1- Adopting a strategic approach to the improvement of the means and mechanismsto provide eServices and to upgrade the communication among all users andbeneficiaries in the government, and in the public and private sectors.

2- Urging all public and private sectors to extend their use of eServices applicationsand cooperate and coordinate their undertakings among themselves and with theTechnical Committee of eServices in the Eastern Province.

3- Adopting proper national legislations which compel all eServices providers toapply the minimum accepted user security and protection measures.

4- Acting toward spreading societal awareness of the positive role of eServices inlife improvement and community development.

5- Encouraging and supporting progressive research work in the field of eServices.

6- Adopting the culture of managed change in facilitating and offering eServices.

7- Encouraging investments in the eServices sector to support the bases for buildingthe society of knowledge.

8- Holding the Fourth e-Services Symposium in the Eastern Province during theperiod from 12-14 Rabee I, 1429 H corresponding to 9-11 March 2009.

Recommendations Committee