SITA looks overseas for guidance

The State IT Agency (SITA) has called on international experts, from countries such as the US, Canada and Brazil, to assist in the formulation of an effective e-government strategy.

COO Noedine Isaacs-Mpulo says the agency has engaged with experts from countries that have been involved in successful roll-outs of e-government programmes.

"This team has been to SA on numerous occasions to review documentation on our e-government programme, and meet with key government departments and members of the Government IT Officers Council," she explains.

A number of departments, along with the Presidential National Commission, local municipalities and Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) management, have met with the visiting team of experts, who also reviewed projects within the newly created electronic inventory of government information systems, adds Isaacs-Mpulo.

She says a draft document, which covers the status of e-government and includes a revised vision, strategy, communication plan and projects, has been completed and will be discussed with the minister of public service and administration in April.

At last year's inaugural SITA GovTech conference, the agency committed itself to a number of objectives to be achieved throughout this year. A detailed inventory of the state's e-government services is promised early in the year.

Initiating open source software (OSS) projects was another GovTech objective. Isaacs-Mpulo says that to stimulate the implementation of OSS in government, Cabinet tasked SITA in January to develop a programme management office to drive all these initiatives in the country.

SITA will undertake this in conjunction with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the CSIR's Meraka Institute.

"A comprehensive plan, which encompasses key areas, such as skills, certification, applications, migration and communication, is under development." She adds that SITA expects to have the plan completed by the end of the month.

In the interim, a number of OSS projects have been identified for implementation, notably the open source telephony system pilots in SITA's call centre; in the area of knowledge management at the DPSA; for the attendance management system in the Northern Cape Province; as well as desktop and server migration at DST and in the North West Province.

Isaacs-Mpulo says the organisation remains fully committed to implementing the outcomes identified at GovTech 2006.

"In only four months, SITA has expedited a number of the key actions emanating from the conference. This is indicative of our determination and willingness to collaboratively and swiftly address pertinent ICT matters that will directly benefit the country's citizens."

SITA's commitment to conduct a workshop among role players in the integrated justice system (IJS) cluster will be realised sometime next month. "At a recent IJS cluster board meeting, a core team was identified to work with SITA in scoping the IJS industry day, in line with the discussions at GovTech," she explains.

SITA has also decided to bring forward the ICT skills indaba, from May to the end of this month. "The event will focus on developing a strategy for ICT skills development in the country. Role players that will be represented at the indaba will be from industry, academia and government."

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