Customer Solution Case Study
/ Abu Dhabi Chooses Microsoft Performance Management Software for Justice System
Overview
Country or Region: United Arab Emirates
Industry: Government
Customer Profile
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department is responsible for administering justice for all citizens and residents in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Business Situation
The department needed an automated performance management system to monitor progress towards delivery of its five-year strategic plan and to enhance customer satisfaction with the courts.
Solution
The Microsoft Services architecture used Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Services, the business intelligence module offered by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft database software.
Benefits
· Abu Dhabi leads in judicial best practice
· User-friendly tools aid business adoption
· Monitoring complies with government standards
· Microsoft partnership offers ongoing support / “Due to our partnership with Microsoft, Abu Dhabi will be the first courts service in the region to have an automated framework that measures the performance of the justice system.”
His Excellency Sultan Saeed Al Badi, Undersecretary, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department in the United Arab Emirates is aiming to become an international technology leader in the justice system, in line with an ambitious five-year modernization strategic plan. To provide greater efficiency and transparency, the department needed a cost-effective automated performance management framework operating in both English and Arabic. Microsoft Services won the mandate in the last quarter of 2008, against other leading competitors. It designed an architecture using Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Services, the business intelligence module offered within Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 data management software. As a result, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is the first judicial department in the Gulf region to implement a performance management system in its courts—a crucial step in creating a more open and transparent justice system.
Situation
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is responsible for the delivery and administration of justice for all citizens and residents in the Gulf Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It supervises and coordinates the primary legal and judicial processes that protect individual rights and uphold the law. The department supports a three-tiered court system, comprising the Court of Cassation, Courts of Appeal, and Courts of First Instance. In addition, specialized divisions work concurrently dealing with family law, arbitration and settlement, and notary services.
Conscious of its increasing workload and the need to modernize its systems, the department has adopted a five-year strategic plan to accelerate progress towards a 21st-century judicial system in the UAE. Under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs and the Chairman of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, the organization is seeking to deliver world-class services to court users as well as creating a merit-based work environment for staff.
Part of this strategy involves the development of a high-tech performance management system—the first such automated solution to be implemented for monitoring the performance of the judicial system of a country. Previously, the department was largely reliant on manual systems to track performance.
His Excellency Sultan Saeed Al Badi, Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, says: “Our new performance management system will enhance our ability to track and monitor key initiatives based on performance measures. Moreover, it will provide a tool for measuring objectives against the department’s strategic goals and help us to understand and analyze our progress.”
In its request for proposal, the department specified an architecture that would extract data from multiple layers of sources for accountability, decision-making support, and performance reporting.
Lala Rukh Qadir, Director, Strategic Planning and Performance Directorate, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, says: “We needed a system that would let us translate raw data into insightful information, helping us to track, progress, and—most importantly—improve our staff’s ability to modernize and adapt to change quickly. Through this, the judicial department can create a more efficient, transparent, and modern judiciary for the Emirate.”
Solution
Other vendors bid for the performance management project, but, based on the overall environment value and close alignment with the department’s business objectives, Microsoft prevailed in the public official tender. Rashed Saqer Al Daheri, IT Director, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, says: “The Microsoft solution was designed to help the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department to improve the quality of decision making by simplifying and integrating services.”
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department invited Microsoft Services to design the performance management system aligned to the latest international best practice. It also wanted the system to be customized to meet the special needs of the service, with the addition of a disaster recovery solution.
The solution will include scorecards, dashboards, management reporting, analytics, key performance indicators, planning, and consolidation features. The technology involves Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Services, the business intelligence module offered within Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 data management software. It operates in Arabic and English—the language of the courts is Arabic—but some of the support services require it to be in English as well.
The performance management system—initially rolled out to 200 users—supports a graphical user interface and provides a central location from which to view the department’s progress. Microsoft applications are not as yet integrated with the department’s core business systems, but there is a pilot project currently running, with the aim of eventual full-scale rollout.
Benefits
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department is uncompromising in delivering the highest quality of service to its customers and also in providing satisfaction to other stakeholders in the UAE justice system. Microsoft technology has been deployed in a cost-effective Web-driven application that meets the department’s strict requirements. Al Badi says: “Due to our partnership with Microsoft, Abu Dhabi will be the first courts service in the region to have an automated framework that measures the performance of the justice system.”
Abu Dhabi Leads in Performance Management Best Practice
The Abu Dhabi Government is forward-thinking in developing technology across various government bodies. And the judicial department is no exception. Al Daheri says: “The performance management system will help identify trends and monitor the department’s key areas for success, as well as pinpointing gaps and challenges. The technology will be fully aligned to our operational action plans.”
User-Friendly, Familiar Microsoft Tools Aid Adoption
The user-friendly design and familiar Microsoft Office environment will help employees start using the tools quickly and without the need for extensive training. Al Daheri says: “Ease of use was one of the principal drivers in our choice of Microsoft technology. Our employees are already familiar with Microsoft Office tools and we’re now working on enhancements based on our experience of the initial pilot project.”
Compliance with Government Performance Management Framework
The judicial department’s technology complements the performance management system of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi’s Framework for Government Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. This provides a comprehensive means of evaluating the progress being made by all public sector agencies. The performance management system for the Abu Dhabi Executive Council also runs on Microsoft technologies similar to that used by the courts.
Qadir says: “The performance management system will help us to achieve a high level of compliance with targets set by the government because it defines key performance indicators, evaluates progress, and makes recommendations.”
Partnership with Microsoft Provides Ongoing Support
Microsoft is providing ongoing support to the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department in developing the performance management system with a view to extending it to other users. Training courses have been provided for users to help them track progress and identify achievements.
Ihab Foudeh, Enterprise Group Director, Microsoft Gulf, says: “Microsoft has been pleased to partner with the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department in designing a performance management system that will increase efficiency across the organization.”
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to:
www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx