The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has recently obtained ISO 2000 certification for the quality standards of the IT services offered, in recognition of RTA efforts in applying the best practices and standards provided for in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards. Thus RTA has become only the second Government Department at Dubai Government level, and the fifth across the UAE to obtain this certification.

H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, received the Certificate from the CEO of RTA Corporate Technical Support Services Sector Abdullah Al Madani and the Director of RTA IT Department Abdullah Al Bastaki.

Al Tayer expressed his delight with RTA obtaining this certification; which reflected a further success of the RTA in the field of information technology, and would act as a motivator for committing more efforts to apply IT to the service of the public. “This certificate culminates the endeavours of the RTA IT Team which in 2009 made in-house efforts to develop the Integrated Services Directory; detailing the processes of service request and follow-up, besides developing methodologies and frameworks for coping with the new developments of the electronic infrastructure and the approach applicable to the technological problems” stated Al Tayer.

“From inception, RTA assumed the responsibility of upgrading the quality of customer service and was keen on diversifying the platforms and channels of delivering such services; at the top of which comes the internet. RTA developed an integrated strategy for converting and providing the services online in keeping with the vision and trends of the e-Government. Such a strategy relied on the speedy processing and customer centricity.

“In 2009 RTA bagged five key Awards at the regional level in recognition of its efforts in the IT field. It won the second position in the e-Government Award at the GCC level held in Muscat, Oman in 2009 in the category of the Best Electronically Advanced Organization at the GCC level following a fierce competition with GCC ministries and organizations. RTA also won IT Governance Award; an annually awarded prize made by the Information Technology Governance Assurance Forum (ITGAF) for honouring and recognizing the efforts made by organizations in building & practicing processes (Maturity Level”; an initial step for achieving IT Governance.

The Award, which was launched by the Financial Audit Department of Dubai Government in 2006, provides a prime opportunity for motivating the IT Team and deriving clear-cut benefits to boost IT and processes. RTA won Middle East Network Creativity Award as it was considered the entity that has the most direct impact on the user. The Award is awarded annually to projects, persons, vendors and service providers who were innovative in the field of regional networking over 12 months in recognition of their efforts in setting pioneering benchmarks and increasing the reliability of the networking infrastructure across the region.

“RTA also won Arab Technology Award in recognition of its efforts in the field of technological applications in the government sector through the project of paying the parking fees over the mobile phone (mParking); which enables the users to pay their parking fees over their mobile phones without having to go to the parking machine or carry coins. Additionally, RTA clinched the Information Technology Executive of the Year 2009 Award in recognition of the excellent performance of the Agency in achieving the e-link scheme through innovative application of linking technologies. This Award is awarded by CIO 20 Forum in 2009, in collaboration with Computer News Middle East Magazine, and Forrester Middle East.