News

H.E. Shaikh Mohammad bin Khalifah bin Abdullah Al Khalifah, Resources and Information Systems Director General, stressed that Spatial Data Project is one of the major projects currently in the pipeline by the Survey and Land Registration Bureau (SLRB). It serves infrastructure data so they can be optimally used, leading to future development of the same to the primary, sole and integral source of geo-information in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

In his interview with Al Ayyam, Al Khalifah said that the project started almost a year ago, and has reached final stages by now. According to him, maps and spatial data will be ready for public and private entities as of July 2010, adding that SLRB will proceed with actual enforcement this year; a bid that would save ministries millions.

He also pointed out that a Hitachi e-info store has been installed recently where all information and date flow in real time to be save and maintained in this high-tech store.

He went on to say that any defect, God forbid, would be duly addressed by the stand-by e-store where all date and information are constantly copied from the primary e-store so SLRB can continue work in cases of disasters. Consequently, no work failure may take place thanks to this copying process.

To have a better idea about SLRB and its achievements, we opted to interview Shaikh Mohammad bin Khalifah bin Abdullah Al Khalifah, SLRB Resources and Information Systems chief, to ask him the following:

What are the key SLRB achievements and projects over the last months?

SLRB, undoubtedly, has embarked on and achieved public projects over the last few years to best serve the interests of citizens and facilitate their transactions; being the inspirational vision of Shaikh Salman bin Abdullah Al Khalifah, SLRB head, as going in line with the reformatory vision of His Majesty King of Bahrain, and working on putting into force governmental policies of His Highness the Prime Minister aiming at enforcing e-government. So, SLRB assumes an important role in national economic development and the Economic Vision 2030 devised by His Highness the Crown Prince. All considered, SLRB head has given his instructions to SLRB staff to upgrade in-house systems and work on the implementation of all governmental directives and decisions and carry out all SLRB duties to highest standards. Hence, we have achieved, initiated and developed several high-tech systems aiming at providing better services with a view to easier transactions for citizens and investors, partner with the private sector, and to contribute to infrastructure projects underway by various governmental bodies. All these efforts combined have led to a qualitative transformation as manifested in swift work and scaling down waiting time as result of well-studied scientific policies.

What about the key projects achieved by SLRB?

Over the last few years we have accomplished several key projects including the e-store tool installation (SAN), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), GIS scheme, PRN program, and most importantly the FRID and e-Services projects through which procedures and transactions are accomplished electronically. Thanks to such two key projects, a customer service center and a call center have been developed to catch up with SLRB head's vision for easier transactions.

Let us talk about the role of the newly inaugurated Customer Service Center?

It is a new service offered by SLRB as of the outset of this year, 2010, to offer better services to customers and answer all SLRB-bound inquiries. The first step was to develop a call center. Presently, the administration is working on offering other specialist services to customers via the call center. Some real estate experienced personnel are to be used to upgrade services and pay due attention to end users.

What about the Call Center services offered by SLRB?

The Call Center has been developed to answer public inquiries by auditors in Bahrain and offshore based on SLRB's policy which aims at offering better communication services, better relations with various customers.It is a specialist service for auditors and inquirers and their respective transactions, be they real estate registrations and surveys, since it directs them to measures to be followed to accomplish their missions while saving time and effort.Document related information are also provided to complete necessary requirements for those dealing with SLRB.All of this is done through direct phone calls to 17204050. SLRB takes every inquiry professionally, seriously and transparently.

Give us an idea about FRID?

RFID is the acronym of Radio Frequency Identification. It is a sophisticated technological system as it controls all SLRB transactions via swift and automatic identification of all document locations, their stages and document cycle as well as other administrative transactions. This has taken us to the next level in terms of governmental service quality. Through this advanced system an auditor can track his inquiry via the ad hoc website and/or the SLRB customer service Call Center. Auditors can thereby define the stages of their transactions, thus facilitating procedures and offering better quantity and quality.

Having adopted RFID, SLRB has become the first governmental body in the Gulf region and the Middle East to adopt such an advanced system to control document cycle in its procedures as acclaimed by Motorola.

What about customer services at Survey Department?

As for the department newly created at SLRB, it is a customer service body working on providing services on transactions flowing form survey agencies with a view to speedy survey actions.

What are the services offered by the SLRB website?

The website offers many advanced e-services, including the e-services portal which tracks customer's inquiries to define transaction status, measures of real estate registrations and surveys without the need to visit SLRB to follow through on their inquiries.

The website also offers all SLRB e-application forms. Hence, users can fill in such forms and return them electronically.

Names and prices of survey agencies in Bahrain can be found on the website as well.Applications forms are completed and returned with a press of a button to the website which, in turn, sends the same to private companies as needed.

As for products offered by SLRB via its website, we take pride in offering such brand new services. It is even the first of kind among e-government bodies and services. Visitors can buy SLRB products such as photos and maps. SLRB would send these to such visitors in both soft and hard copies via the website. However, the same can be bought with credit cards and sent over to those who ask for them.

Is the PRN system, as put into action by SLRB head, helps develop surveys and cut down costs?

I can say that RPN serves and helps develop and facilitate surveys. It is a qualitative transformation in survey services in Bahrain. In addition, it cuts down costs and delivers more accurate human error-free results. This network is an internationally sophisticated one. Ministries concerned, such as the Ministry of Electricity and Water and the Ministry of Public Works, as well as survey agencies can subscribe to this network.

Thinking about some projects, we have heard 'Spatial Information'; would you introduce this project to us? and what fields does it serve?

Spatial Information is well one of the key projects undertaken by SLRB in this period as it serves as a reference for infrastructure data in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Such data can be optimally used now, with a view to futuristic development potential to be the only integrated source of geo-information in the Kingdom.The project started almost a year ago, and about to completed with maps and spatial data coming close to public and private bodies as of July, 2010. While putting this project into action SLRB will save ministries millions. Other phases of this project include integrating such spatial data, maps and photos into an Oracle database with connections to each governmental body specific information to realize the utmost potentials of these connections.

What is the system adopted by SLRB in human and financial resources management?

In order to offer better administrative services and to cope with other systems adopted, ERP has been implemented to address matters related to financial and human resources using Microsoft Great Plains with a view to meet SLRB in-house needs to manage its resources efficiently and effectively. Other reasons include minimizing dependence on manual and paper work which is time and effort consuming. In brief, this system is intended to develop works in HR Department and that of financial resources.As for human resources ERP contains personal information of all SLRB employees. It is now connected to Horizon; a system used in Civil Service Department to upgrade the financial and human resources system on a daily basis.ERP can track course of work in HR, develop various reports, cover employment procedures and meet administrative services needed on the pert of SLRB employees. All these measures are conducted automatically.

As for the Financial Resources Department,ERP prints out balances for all SLRB revenues across all departments for various services and products, while finishing purchase orders issued by different departments, managing assets at stores including stationary, etc. ERP also enables SLRB high level officials and managers to view their respective departmental budgets, control expenditure, approve purchase orders and follow up contracts entered into between SLRB and various companies. All these measures, again, are conducted automatically.

Considering the GIS, in which year was it initiated or accomplished, and how does it work?

The Geographic Information System (GIS) has been adopted in 2007. It is a sophisticated ESRI-based system that includes all real estate information on all related properties in the Kingdom of Bahrain. GIS can electronically encode real estate properties under any foreclosures, mortgages and / or other restricting actions. Additionally, GIS can define the volumes and values of trading in various regions of Bahrain, determine information on properties and their legacies, and provide mapping capabilities for all Bahraini regions on colorful photos to set up trading schedules and average pricing values across all regions.