Solution Architecture
Overview of SRM
The SRM has two main architecture elements – application design and development technology domain, and application portfolio.
The application design and development technology domain provides the following information:
(a) A standard application development methodology that describes the various aspects of application development and deployment life cycle
(b) A list of architecture design factors for consideration to aid agencies in application development
(c) A list of mandatory and recommended technical standards for agencies to comply
(d) Best practices in the various steps of application development, and
(e) A list of new technologies - called technology watch - that can be useful for future application development
In the development of the application portfolio for the Oman Government, government agencies that provide significant services to citizens, residents and commercial establishments were considered. These services must have direct impact to the general public such as education, health and housing. Services affecting the commercial establishments were also considered. Other key supporting government functions provided by government agencies were considered to be relevant as they impact the overall efficiency of government services. Thus, government agencies that provide internal corporate and support services such as financial administration, civil servants resource management and IT were considered. The number of government agencies selected has to be a reasonable. Out of seventy one government agencies identified in BRM, fifteen were selected (which is about 20% of the total number of government agencies).
Out of seventy one government agencies identified in BRM, the following fifteen government agencies were selected for SRM:
(a) Ministry of Civil Service (MOCS)
(b) Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI)
(c) Ministry of Education (MOE)
(d) Ministry of Finance (MOF)
(e) Ministry of Health (MOH)
(f) Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE)
(g) Ministry of Housing (MOHousing)
(h) Ministry of Justice (MOJ)
(i) Ministry of Manpower (MOMP)
(j) Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources (MRMWR)
(k) Muscat Municipality (MM)
(l) Royal Oman Police (ROP)
(m) Supreme Committee for Town Planning (SCTP)
(n) Tender Board (TB)
(o) Information Technology Authority (ITA)
These selected government agencies have significant direct impact in the provision of government services to citizens, residents and commercial establishments. These government services included the sharing and processing of citizen, business and land information. Applications from the above government agencies were reviewed to understand the current collection of applications, their interfaces and their challenges.
The application portfolio reviews how current applications support the government functions and how common data are accessed by the applications. The application portfolio, upon careful analysis, also recommends the target state comprising of various IT solutions to improve the integration of government services.
Objectives and Benefits of SRM
The SRM is the main component of Oman eGovernment Architecture Framework (OeGAF) that describes the IT solutions that provides technology standardisation and service integration so as to improve and enhance government functions. The SRM aims to encourage the re-use of applications and their components to derive economies of scale for the Oman Government.
The SRM analyses current limitations and gaps, and lists the opportunities for consolidation and integration of IT solutions. Besides cost efficiency, the recommendations from the SRM would enable government agencies to provide more integrated government services to the citizens, residents and commercial establishments. With the SRM, the Oman government agencies would be more responsive to the needs of the citizens, residents and commercial establishments in providing convenient, integrated and faster turnaround services.
With proper follow through, the SRM will bring about the following potential benefits:
g) Improve government services to stakeholders (citizens, residents and commercial establishments)
(h) Enhance interoperability across government agencies
(i) Leverage on current IT investment and assets; and reduce Oman Government’s total cost of ownership on future IT investments
(j) Align agencies IT projects to central IT initiatives