MODERNIZATION IN GOVERNMENT SERVICES:
SPATIAL DATA FOR SMART MANAGEMENT
M.N. Nurfarhana1*, M. Shattri2, M.I. Nurulain3
1Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA) Banting, Selangor, Malaysia
2Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Selangor, Malaysia
3Geoinfo Sdn. Bhd,, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 20 February 2020 | Published: 29 February 2020
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Abstract: Service delivery is a means of interaction and communication between the government and public. It is a common process and through this, the effectiveness of Malaysia public service able to evaluate and seen effective. An excellent and effective service will contribute to the growth and development of a city. Information technology (IT) plays an important role in establishing interaction and communication between the government and the public. It serves as the backbone in ensuring that this modernization process is successful and at the same time contributes to the positive impact of the country's development.
However, in line with the passage of time, the popularity of smart city concept has become more popular and the vast increasing of new technology in the market has made current method of delivery considered less effective and outdated. The increased population, limited access to the government systems and also time constrains was the biggest factors that has led to the creation of a modern system of government services. To that, the objective of the study was to produce a more modern, comfortable and effective government system in terms of its use. The beginning of the study, qualitative methods will be used to select the appropriate system for modernization. A series of meetings and discussions will be held with technical and non-technical experts of a government organization for the implementation of Consumer Needs Assessment (URS). To complete the research, spatial data elements such as mobile workforce will be adapted to the existing systems and it will be tested and evaluated by the potential user for a period of three (3) month, purposely to determine the effectiveness and the system modernization. At the end of this study, it is hoped that the enhanced system propose will be accepted and apply in many local government of Malaysia and may the implementation will have a positive impact on national income.
Keywords: Government service, spatial data, mobile workforce, effective, modernization ___________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Malaysia has created a new digital government strategy, looking to transform public service delivery by 2020. This need is particularly important and critical as the population of the city is under control, the widespread growth of the "smart city" concept, the explosion of technology in the market and the smarter society, requires a more exclusive and sustainable lifestyle.
The advent of information technology (IT) has greatly influenced various activities and developments of an organization. Its emergence in the late 90s had an impact on government systems and other organizations. Information technology (IT) is made up of a set of computers connected to the internet and other input fields to process the information. As a result the use of information technology (IT), has been able to improve government services by reducing time taken for processing a government service and at the same time reduce costs and save on employment time management.
E-government is the technology enabled alteration and transformation of governments for the reduction of costs, for the increase of transparency, and for the enhancement on service delivery and public administration (Irani et al., 2006). Curtin et al. (2004) define e- government as the use of information and communications technology (ICT) by governments and their agents to increase operations, the delivery of public information and services, citizen engagement and public participation, and the process. E-government has brought a new scenario to the public service delivery especially in Malaysia. The use of digital infrastructure for governance is accepted worldwide (Jaeger, 2003; Riley, 2007). Adoption of web-based technologies to deliver government services has become a universal trend in public administration. Many studies have been conducted on the use of IT in improving services. This includes studies on its strategic IT in ensuring that matters such as trusty and service quality have been discussed in recent studies. As noted by ( Bertot and Jaeger (2006) user acceptance is critical factor in establishing user focused e-government services. Different studies show that well-designed and attractive contents on government websites play critical role to provide citizen satisfaction (Smith, 2001; Wang et al., 2005; Gajendra et al., 2012).
The e-government implementation is still in effect to this day. Many transactions between government and the public can be resolved using this method. However, this method nowadays seems likely to be unconditional and outdated and less precise. It can be improved as there are many exciting and modern technologies that are usable and more practical in the market. Therefore, the study was aimed at developing a government service system based on geospatial technology, using satellite as a basis. To produce this study, a local authority was randomly selected to be a partner. In view of the existence of various government services, a collaborative meeting was held to obtain user information or known as user requirement study (URS). Through this URS, the system to be improved has been selected and improved by incorporating spatial elements. At the end of the study, a questionnaire was distributed to measure the level of user acceptance of the system being developed or improved.
2. Literature Review
Modernization and the need
Modernization,’ in social science, refers to the transition from a traditional, rural, agrarian society to a secular, urban, industrial society. Modernization encompasses profound economic, social, political, and cultural changes, but the process of industrialization is at its core. However, the motivating force behind the process is the fact that industrialization is a way to escape the poverty and helplessness of subsistence agriculture. After World War II the modern concept has emerged, as key concepts in social science. The process of change by which traditional, has transform into the complex systems of industrial societies typical of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As a result of this process, societies and cultures develop a typical set of characteristics that set them apart from older, premodern types of sociocultural systems (‘modernity’) (P. Nolte, 2001).
Many are impressed by the rise and the modernization process. From a religious point of view, development and society certainly have their own modernization process. However, this is no exception for the government. The modernization process in the government needs to be implemented in accordance with the passage of time and the needs of the people for the future. In the government sector, modernization and reform are a constant, especially for a new government to change to ensure the existing government is relevant and functioning properly.
Government role and modernization factors
Government is the core of any state's administration. The government is a powerful organization that makes and enforces laws in their colonies, and they have the right to implement reforms or modernization of its governing body as it is part of the mission and responsibilities. In addition to implementing development and driving growth, the government is also responsible for ensuring that the service system runs smoothly and efficiently. An effective government should:
Provide economic facilities
Provide a wide range of services
Determine the governance of the state
Ensuring security
Protect the environment
Since information technology (IT) has played role in the process of delivering government services, some necessary changes and improvements have been made. Communications and businesses between government and public sector has improved every year and this can be proved positively with the progress and the availability of skyscrapers and many other amenities and facilities that modern yet safe and comfy. Todays, with the proliferation of broadband networks and the addition of smart gadgets, as well as cloud computing and big data technology, the process of government service has never stopped and should continue by creating more efficient service system.
Improving Government services
As mention before, the process of modernization and improvement of government services depends on current and varying needs. Many factors contributes to the demand and one of the factors is the influx of people into urban areas. Therefore, through this study a process of modernization of government services was created by incorporating spatial elements into the process. The mobile workforce model has been taken and adapted and refined along with the original work process to produce a more robust and modern workflow. Through this process also, the multiplicity of IOT has been used to ensure that the modernized system is effective and usable and competent to facilitate government services.
Smart City and Smart management
Smart city is a new concept developed to govern a city using technology as a backbone and support system. It uses different types of electronic Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to collect data and then use insights gained from that data to manage assets, resources and services efficiently. Smart city concept integrates information and communication technology (ICT), and various physical devices connected to the IOT network to optimize the efficiency of city operations and services and connect to citizens.
Smart management is one of the basic components of smart city. Therefore, the modernization process in government services is part of the quest for smart city production.
Following are the factors that contribute to the process of modernization the government services:
- Technologies adaptation (IOT) - Smart city concept
Internet of Thing (IOT)
Internet of thing (IOT) is an extension from the implementation of the e-governance. It improves the usage of e-governance by allowing many other tools connecting each other. It creates an emerging new era of internet, in which machines and object get connected and equipped with sensors, surpassing their traditional role to continue dynamic. According to the industry report, IOT is a very promising technology and is predicted to flourish within the next year as 127 new devices connect to the internet every second (McKinsey, 2018) and it is expected that more than 24 billion IOT devices will exist by 2020, which will be four times the world population (Newman, 2017). As IOT advances it is applied in government and public sector allowing for services that improves the live of citizen (IBM Industries, 2017).
IOT can bring unprecedented benefits in government system and services, making a shift from e-government to smart government, transforming G2C, G2B and G2G transection and process. As mentioned above, modernization of government services is a part of smart city implementation and IOT is tools that uses in smart city.
3. Research Methodology and Works
Research methodology is a process used to collect information and data for the purpose of making business decisions. The methodology may include publication research, interviews, surveys and other research techniques, and could include both present and historical information. Basically, this research focus is to carry out or to bring a new concept of delivery service for the local government in Malaysia.
The need of a new concept is important and crucial since these factors has arisen and impacted grows of the society today and tomorrow. The major factor contribute to the changes was the implementation of the smart city concept in many develop and big city.
Technology was the backbone for the smart city and smart city implementation creating a manageable and convenient living. Since the world become more complex and challenging, the important for Local Authority to have a delivery system that is smarter, manageable, worth in returns and pleasant the citizen, is highly need and recommended. To overcome these problem, the idea to have an enhancement spatially service delivery system was came in mind. The new enhance system will be added with the space technology such as navigation element so that the new system will have the location and spatial information. To begin the research, few phases and layers were constructed so at the end, the outcome was attained as expected.
Figure 1: Methodology Stages
As shown above, are the steps taken to create a successful delivery system. To begin the study there are several phases of work that need to be overworked. The phases of the work are as follows:
Figure 2: The summary on how work is carried out
No Phases Activity
1. P1 Identifies local authorities. To carry out the work of this phase, Delphi techniques was used to determining the suitable government (local Authority) as a model.
2. P2 Phase user requirement study (URS)
During this phase, a series of meetings, interviews, questionnaires, presentations and meetings were conducted to meet the needs and priorities of the users. At this stage, information about the user (mbjb), as well as the system to be upgraded, and the agreement of the collaborator on data issues have been reached. For this improvement process - the licensing section has been selected for review.
3. P3 System understanding process
The selected system is being explain and brief by collaborator.
Through discussions and meetings, collaborators have provided details on the existing licensing system. at this stage, the existing processes and methods of work are presented
4. P4 Phase of proposed
During this phase, we are going detail on the proposed system and also understanding the work flow. The enhancement of the system were proposed, with element of spatial will be adapt during this phase.
5. P5 Phase of development and system modernization.
6. P6 User acceptance test and feed back
The beginning of research, the important information need to cater is the local authority. In Malaysia, there are various LA serving the city. Each LA has different mission and vision but the aim is to develop and serving the citizen with quality services. To begin the research, we need to name or to pick the right and suitable LA as our collaborator. To perform the research, we used the Delphi technique and as the result, Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru (MBJB) was selected as the research collaborator.
To cater better proposition in enhancing of government servicing system, interview approach was included as part of the URA process. The interview conducted yields useful insights on requirements and much-needed mechanism by PBTs in solving their service delivery. The analysis catered items such as PBT theme and focus, problem and issues, authority, organizational and leadership, policy and government, current project, concept, key barriers and future plans. It is important to identify WHAT are the processes involve and HOW core systems can be made “smarter” with the help of instrumentation, interconnection and intelligence. Furthermore, the purpose of this stage is to identify the requirement of device, software and data in developing the core modules, including the mobile workforce components and identifying the smart technologies that can be exploit in the development.
Spatial Smart Management is a core component that essentials for local authority operational management in delivering services to the public by utilizing spatial and space-based technology towards smart city management.
Figure 3 below: Is process mapping flow
Figure 3 below: Is process mapping flow
No Process Major Activity Deliverables 1. Process
Mapping
- List down all findings from the URS during visits to MBJB
- List down services offered by the PBT
- Identify WHAT are the processes involve
- Summary of finding including theme and focus, problem and issues, authority, organizational and leadership, policy and government, current project, concept, key barriers and future plans
- List of core services - Current process flow
2. Process Analysis
- Identify HOW core systems can be made
“smarter” with the help of instrumentation,
interconnection and
- List of core systems
- Mapping table of core systems with smarter elements
- The service deliveries
intelligence
At the beginning of the study, the extent to which local authorities were selected to be collaborators through the process of internal discussion. The Johor Bahru District Council (MBJB) was selected because they have strong fundraisers, capable of becoming an international city by 2020 and also have the knowledge and ideas to lead to better governance. Subsequently, the selection of work processes is carried out in a joint discussion.
After identifying all contributing factors and reject factors, a new system has been developed.
Two special components embedded into the existing system are:
- Spatial data
- Consistent mobile workforce
Spatial information has introduced a new sense of urgency in better understanding the citizens, when and where they need services and through which devices or physical locations they need them. The utilization of the technology must follow the current demand and trends of technology and usage. Spatial is being defined as something related to space and in this research spatial data is being used as added value and special component. Spatial data, also known as geospatial data, is information about a physical object that can be represented by numerical values in a geographic coordinate system.
Mobile workforce management (MWM) is a category of software and related services used to manage employees working outside the company premises; the term is often used in reference to field teams. It is the automation of the entire end-to-end workflow and operations in any of the service. In MW, mobile workers receive their jobs instantly out in the field on smartphones using native Android or iOS mobile apps. Lengthy and laborious job forms are no longer required – customised workflows are completed on the mobile device, and the job can be completed instantly in the field, allowing the customer to be invoiced immediately.
Therefore, in consultation with the Local Authority, the licensing work has been selected as a government workstation that is enhanced by the spatial working process and adopting the mobile workforce model.
Figure 5 below: Showing the general concept of workforce
Once the service deliveries are identified, the engine functions and concept were designed and determined. The design of new enhance licensing system is different compared with a conventional application. All information is gathered and data collected is being analysed to achieve the said objective.
Figure 6 below: Final activities proceses
Issues highlighted by MBJB regarding premise licensing and enforcement activity:
- To monitor business licensing status (premise license registration and renewal and its compliance with the registered license
- To monitor licensing and enforcement officers on site (tasking and scheduling) - To have an online reporting and submission hence avoiding missing reports - To manage complaint effectively
- No integration between spatial data
Figure 7: Smart Licencing Management Concept non-spatial data.
Proposes Process of Licensing System Enhancement
The user involve are citizens, PBT staff and the PBT itself. They have own roles thru this concept. The sensor and satellite technology has been used in the concept as tracking and tracking capability to detect the location based staff and licensing building. The workflow requires the enforcement officers to do an inspection in the premises of their task with a printed hardcopy of registered premises. On the site, enforcement officers will check premises license status and the license compliance with the registered license. This workflow allows enforcement officers to issue a compound letter and confiscation report if needed. All findings will be reported and submitted to the main office afterwards. The desk officers will update the system based on the reports from the enforcement officers.
No. Process Major Activity Deliverables 1. Designing the Smart
Licensing enhance system
- analyse input from process mapping and analysis stage - Designing the
conceptual
diagram and
overall system architecture
- The hardware and software requirement
- The selected satellite related technologies that will be used
- Conceptual diagram and overall system architecture
Table 8: System enhancement
After several improvements based on the needs of local authorities and the suitability of the system developed following the system concept workflow for improved and modernized licensing
Table 9: New proposed Licensing system
The advantages of this improved and modernized licensing system are that it is accessible using smart phones and accessible from anywhere. For this reason, employees are not required to go to the office for work tasks and can plan work trips. The system has been improved by incorporating tracking and tracing models and can be viewed in web view on computing or can be viewed through digital platforms through downloaded applications.
4. Conclusion and Findings
This report aims to present feedback on the impact of Smart City projects that have been developed among local users. The scope of the study covers the Use of Utility, Productivity and Communication Effectiveness
As the conclusion, technology plays an important role in our lives. Through technology our lives can be influenced and transformed into more orderly and sustainable. Improving this government service process not only benefits and benefits the government, it contributes to
harmony by reducing air pollution levels, and also protecting the environment. As such, many more government systems are expected to improve and at the same time improve the status of the Malaysian government
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