Dubai eGovernment adds two new SMS ‘pull’services to mDubai portal
Dubai eGovernment’s mDubai service has added two new SMS ‘pull’ services from Dubai Police, providing mobile phone users with an instant channel to receive information in response to their suggestions or complaints as well as the status of their job applications.
Members of the public who wish to make a suggestion or lodge a complaint through the Dubai Police portal are given a reference number. Mobile phone users have to type ‘sug’ followed by the reference number and send the SMS to 4488.
For example, if the reference number received is 5066, then the user must send an SMS with the message: ‘sug 5066’. He will then receive an answer from Dubai Police relating to his suggestion or complaint.
Similarly, applicants who apply for jobs with Dubai Police can inquire about the status of the application by typing ‘job’ followed by the reference number received after submitting the job application and send the SMS to the same number. For example, if the reference number is 93, then the job applicant should type ‘job 93’ and send the SMS to 4488.
Commenting on the service, Rehab Lootah, eServices Provisioning Manager, Dubai eGovernment said, “The addition of two new Dubai Police services to our SMS pull system demonstrates Dubai Police’s commitment to follow customer-centric policies. It also shows that mDubai has become extremely popular among mobile phone users.”
Dubai eGovernment’s SMS ‘pull’ services were launched in 2004 as part of Dubai eGovernment’s mDubai service to provide information and services to the public through mobile phones, PDAs and the Internet.
The new services follow the success the traffic fines inquiry service using mDubai service. Under the traffic fine information, users have to key in the word ‘Fine’ followed by Car plate number, Car Type and Car Code. Motorists can get information about car codes and car types from the two tables below:
Car Code Car Type
A 00 Motor Bike 01
B 01 Private 02
C 02 Taxi 03
D 03 Public Transportation 04
E 04 - -
F 05 - -
For example, if the motorist owns a private vehicle (car type 02) with a ‘D’ car code and a plate number 98098, he can enquire about traffic fines by sending the SMS message 'fine 98098 02 D’. In addition, he can keep the car code as a numerical figure. When the SMS is received by Dubai Police, the sender will instantly receive on his mobile phone the total number of tickets and the amount payable.
Among the other departments that have joined the SMS pull service are Dubai Civil Aviation, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Development Board, Dubai Police.
From Dubai Civil Aviation, customers can obtain information on arrival and departure schedules. Mobile phone users have to type the message ‘Fi ek’ followed by the flight number to get the required Flight Information (for example: Fi ek001).
They can also opt for Flight Information Tracking by typing the message ‘Fit ek’ followed by the flight number for Flight Information Tracking (for example: Fit ek001). Users will then receive updated information on flight status, like expected time of arrival and departure, flight delays and cancellations.
mDubai offers numerous advantages to the public as well as government departments. People no longer have to make a physical counter visit in order to inquire about routine matters, which means that government departments can actually save precious resources that would have been deployed to handle queries from the public.
“Dubai eGovernment is keen to develop the mDubai channel even further, because it is a vital adjunct to existing eServices as the mobile phone usage has become universal and offers unparalleled advantages such as convenience, immediacy and unfettered accessibility,” said Lootah.
Dubai eGovernment is a pioneering initiative in the region to provide online services across the spectrum of corporate and community life in the emirate. It also has a vision to integrate
individually automated government departments under the single umbrella of the eGovernment initiative, thus empowering employees across lines of businesses and levels of government, besides facilitating the lives of citizens and customers of the government. Dubai has taken a lead in the region in deploying eGovernment applications and is among the first few governments in the world to provide such integrated services to its citizens. The eGovernment portal (www.dubai.ae) is a single contact point masking the complexity of the bureaucratic procedures, and guiding access to all services in the easiest possible way. In addition, the eGovernment initiative seeks to improve and enhance procedures by maximizing the benefit from technology, so that users from all walks of life will be able to utilize the portal for their specific needs with considerable ease.
