Find the bottlenecks if we want to build E-gov.

I took a break from facebook. Sometimes, I think it would be something different if I live off the grid for 6 months or a year. Because, it’s more frustrating for me seeing those rubbish things every-time i scroll my newsfeed. I used facebook hoping to get more connection, post about things I’m working on and only to receive the filtered information I want.

Actually, it has been 12 hours I escaped from facebook. Haha.. So, I got more time to think and to write down my thoughts as a complete essay.

Now, I want to talk about that E-government that Myanmar government is trying to achieve and what could be the obstacles on this way.

I simply don’t know what is their understanding on E-gov and which kinds of suggestions are given by technical advisors. Based on the update news, the gov is building infrastructures with the loan from international govs. Humm! It’s essential for building infrastructures but data centres should not be priority I think. We built the big data centres by spending millions of dollars but is it operating now? What is the status of gov’s servants?

The head of gov ,such as ministers and high ranked officials are trying to achieve this . But, the body and tail is not moving much . In my experience, it’s much harder as gov’s servants to be innovative or embrace the change than private employees. They are being tied by many bureaucratic strings and protocols, which are of course, the obstacles to moving fast. Though the gov’s servants are following the orders from the boss, they hardly give feedback on the system .It could be right as individual department but as a whole system, it’s almost failing. It’s difficult to see the complete picture from inside.

I want to question the digital literacy status of gov’s servants?I’m sure most of them don’t know the difference between Gmail and Email. They don’t know being small or capital letters in email address is not matter.

As this time is developing stage, we should not always blindly listen to private companies. Many international companies will come and promote their system, products . But, think about it, their systems are not specifically designed for Myanmar, so it’s definitely needed to be customised based on local procedures. Do they guarantee that? Even if the companies give away the system for 1 or two years , what is the cost after trial period? Most of the time, we are already applying the tools in gov process so then it’s more likely to purchase the same system after the trial period.

I want to suggest even if we don’t buy some sophisticated tools and systems for good use, why not release the strings a little bit byusing alternative solutions. For instance, they can use whatsapp or Viber or slack for non-confidential conversation. Why always sticking to the emails? Why waiting to receive the physical mail while we can send the same information digitally?If it’s the kind of protocol issue, why not releasing it to increase the speed.

The former government and the elected gov seems to enjoy building websites. They might think building a website is the easiest way to show the performance about how they’ve been working for e-gov . In my research, their websites are poorly designed, not secure, not updated and merely have useful functions. I believe they could do more if they have strong IT team behind them .

We’ve been encouraging gov to have IT team in each department to solve everyday technical problems . It could be starting from computer error, software error, network error and for other IT logistics support. However, the gov is still relying on some chosen people who knows a little bit about IT in their team .That solution is not reliable and totally wasting resources and mismanagement. Because, knowing IT doesn’t mean they know how to fix computer, smartphone, how to build softwares, how to operate websites. Everything has different speciality. Gov authorities should understand that if there is no one to solve these small glitches in computer and internet, the whole process will not be functioning enough and unnecessary delays will occur in gov process.

Another one is Data. I don’t think the gov necessarily need to build everything from scratch in their own. Like building multiple websites, apps and so on. They simply give guidance or share accurate data for other parties to develop tools with more innovative ideas. Let me give you two example, one is NRC data , (national identification card). It’s like a passport. Gov issued a small piece of paper card for their citizens to guarantee their nationality.It has no chips or sensor embedded inside it, just a plain piece of paper.And It’s easy to fake it. What I want to mention here is actually not that paper, this is another story. Since, we use NRC number to identify people , we need to design registration system with NCR format. In NRC format, there is a regional code, abbreviation of township name, type of nationality and id number. But, we don’t have complete dataset for NRC format, that is the combination of regional code and township abbreviation . We tried to create this dataset with all the available information we have, it’s not 100%perfect but usable. However, it’s not officially published by the gov, so developers are redundant to use it , assume it as non-reliable source. If we have this complete data, we can countercheck the source of ID number, authenticity of ID number . Besides, we can integrate this dataset with the api into some registration systems. By doing so, we can reduce mismatch or errors in inputing ID number.

Another scenario I want to highlight is related to FDA. Health is one of the most vulnerable sectors in Myanmar. As a doctor, I’m highly interested in health. I have a dream to have drug information database in local language for our people. There are some health websites which have drug info articles. however, the credibility of information is questionable. FDA released the lists of drugs they approved and rejected from the website in excel file format. However, the data inside excel document is poorly structured. It only includes two column drug name and company name. Actually, they should publish the lists of approved and rejected drugs more transparently from website. Like, having a separate database update regularly and provide api to be able to use from third party services. In that way , third party orgs or developers don’t need to prepare and update by themselves for every use cases. If everyone has access to approved drugs and other information in local language, they will be more aware of side effects , and the health literacy will be dramatically improved.

These are some of the scenarios just popup in my mind, there will be more in other sectors. I think these kinds of challenges should be named as bottlenecks. As we are transforming to E-Government, the advisors and decision makers need to identify those bottle neck. As soon as they are lifted, the whole system might have a lot of great impact.

Let me stop my writing here, I finished two stories in one day. Hope it would be productive on next days as well.

Arthur

5. Dec . 2018