E-Courts

Brunei is moving towards a paperless government, and so the government of His Majesty Sultan of Brunei is actively implementing a number of projects towards the realisation of e-Government. This is being carried out through the development of Information and Communication Technology(ICT) infrastructures. One of the projects is the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Net that transforms procedures from paper based to an electronic system. (http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Feb05/010205/nite04.htm)

One service that will aid is this goal is an online courts service in Brunei, an E-Court. Countries such as United Kingdom and America, provide an online courts service as shown below:

(http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/index.htm)


(http://www.saccourt.ca.gov/)


(http://www.courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/PageCurrentWebLookUpTopNav/Home)


(http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/default.htm?UserPref=culture^en-GB)

These services allow for a wide range of legal proceedings to be done online such as adoption, divorce proceedings, victims and witnesses in criminal cases, as well as several online services such as paying fines online, small claims online, possession claims online, juror notices online and many others. By implementing this E-Courts service, it will help Bruneians handle legal matters, such as paying traffic fins and applying for adoption, easily and quickly without them needing to drive to the relevant department and waiting in line. This helps save time and leads to a more efficient management of documents for both government units and citizens. With this court service, the public can even get legal advice online which takes less time; no need to wait for appointments with lawyers for mundane and simple cases. In contrast to the high priced-per-hour lawyers, the online court service is free and thus the public can easily make general inquiries and obtain information about law procedures.

This is one of the examples of an online form used to pay for traffic citations (tickets), and criminal payments in the County of Sacremento, California.



Furthermore, an online courts service would provide online forms for filling in and submitting online, such as small claims forms and appeals forms. People can even save and print out the forms for their own use. Thus, they save the time of having to go to get a new copy of the form. There are also guidelines provided online to help users fill in forms or to get updated on the status of their application online. With this E-Courts service, Brunei's legal proceedings will be able to become more productive.

In line with the e-Government strategic plan (2009-2014), this type of system will help to achieve the government's aims to provide online services to citizens that are sufficient, secure, easy to access and view. (http://www.bt.com.bn/en/news-national/2009/12/10/e-govt-initiative-means-better-service-delivery) Brunei should implement this E-Courts service, providing a similar functionality as the examples mentioned above. Such a move would greatly help Bruneians, both the general public and lawyers, to be able to quickly and conveniently carry out any legal proceedings.

References:
http://www.bt.com.bn/en/news-national/2009/12/10/e-govt-initiative-means-better-service-delivery Date accessed: 9th April 2010

http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Feb05/010205/nite04.htm Date accessed: 9th April 2010

http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/default.htm?UserPref=culture^en-GB Date accessed: 9th April 2010

http://www.courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/PageCurrentWebLookUpTopNav/Home Date accessed: 9th April 2010

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/index.htm Date accessed: 9th April 2010

http://www.saccourt.ca.gov/ Date accessed: 9th April 2010

Online Business Licensing

Brunei is known for having a very lengthy set of procedures to go through when setting-up a business. According to doingbusiness.org, an entrepreneur needs to go through 18 procedures or departments before they can get their business license. This would take a minimum of 124 days before they could start their business. The entrepreneur needs to get approval from each department before they can proceed to the next department. They have to go back and forth between departments to check the status of their application.

Below is the screenshot showing the 18 procedures needed to start a business in Brunei.

However, countries such as Singapore, have set up a one-step solution for entrepreneurs applying for business licenses online. It would only take up to 3 days and 3 steps before they can start their business. Not much time is wasted. The entrepreneur can easily check the status of their application online. An email notification will be sent to the entrepreneur once their application is either approved or rejected. They could even make their payment for the license online once their application is approved.

This screenshot shows the 3 steps for an entrepreneur in Singapore

The screenshot below is of Singapore's official online website that entrepreneurs use to submit their application online to relevant government agencies. Other than making a new application, existing applicants can retrieve drafts, check the status of their application, make payments online, renew their business licence and also terminate their existing business licence.

Australia is also providing a similar service to entrepreneurs that wish to set up business in Australia. They provide guidelines and application forms for any applicant that wishes to apply. It only takes 2 days for them to complete their business registration application.

The 2 steps to go through for an Australian entrepreneur are shown below

This screenshot shows the website that provides application forms for entrepreneurs to fill in and submit to relevant government agencies.

Brunei's government should come up with a e-government service similar to Singapore's and Australia's. If this online business licensing service were to be implemented, the number of steps to go through would be reduced and applications would be easier to make. With such a service, the steps to follow would be: the entrepreneur creates an account (step 1), selects the type of service they would like to apply for (step 2), chooses the type of business activity (step 3), enter general information (step 4), fill in the licence form (step 5), and finally send out their application (step 6). An email will be received when the application is send out successfully. The steps are greatly reduced compared to the 18 steps currently in place in Brunei. In addition, the application process is centralised online. As each department approves the application, an e-mail would be sent to notify the applicant. If the applicant wishes to know the status of the application they would click on "status of application" to check whether his application has been approved, rejected or still pending by a department. If one of the departments rejects the application an email will be sent to the applicant for amendment. If the department wishes to verify the application with support documents the applicant can hand in the documents to relevant government agencies by email or by post. Once again an email will be sent by the relevant government agencies to acknowledge the receipt of the documents. Once the application is approved, they could use the online payment system to pay for the license and an e-receipt will be given for verification purposes. The applicant will need to go to the licensing department to collect their licence upon showing the e-receipt. If the applicant has any queries about the application process they can use the contact details to make their queries through telephone or email.

The service suggested above is similar to the services of Singapore and Australia, and would greatly reduce the time needed to make an application as well as making the entire system electronic and paperless. This online business licensing service will improve the country’s economy by simplifying business license approval and reduce illegal business activities of entrepreneurs forced to run their business without a business license. With just one application service sent to all relevant government departments, it reduces the hassle of travelling around Brunei to get things done. Entrepreneurs will be able to track their status of application online without needing to constantly go to the relevant government agencies in order to make the query. It will be more convenient for both the applicant and government to get things done as soon as possible. Shortening the time frame for an application to be approved would be beneficial to entrepreneurs as they legally have to rent or own their premises for the entire 124 days of the current application system but be unable to carry out any business activities. In the long run this system will create a paperless society, increase the number of businesses in the country, which reduces dependence on the oil and gas industry and also diversifies the economy. In addition, it will create a hassle free online application service for any would-be entrepreneurs.

References:
Brunei
http://www.doingbusiness.org/Exploretopics/startingbusiness/Details.aspx?economyid=29 Date accessed: 1st april 2010
http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreEconomies/?economyid=29 Date accessed: 1st april 2010

Singapore
http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreTopics/StartingBusiness/Details.aspx?economyid=167 Date accessed: 2nd april 2010
http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreEconomies/?economyid=167 Date accessed: 2nd april 2010
https://licences.business.gov.sg/SHINE/sop/WebPageHandler?p=OASIS&pn=SelectLicences&ss=Start Date accessed: 2nd april 2010

Australia
http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreEconomies/?economyid=12 Date accessed: 4th april 2010
http://www.blis.tas.gov.au/BLIS/prod/info Date accessed: 4th april 2010
http://www.abr.business.gov.au/%28lcqk0oi14flj1s553aa03f55%29/main.aspx Date accessed: 4th april 2010
http://www.business.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx Date accessed: 4th april 2010
http://www.abr.gov.au/ABR_BC/ Date accessed: 4th april 2010

Online Statistics Database

One online service that we think would greatly improve Brunei’s eGovernment websites is an online statistics database providing detailed data of Brunei’s statistics, including data on the economy, population and environment. The best place to find tables of data on Brunei over the past 10 years isn’t in a Bruneian website but instead from the UN statistics database.

The best data source from a Bruneian website is from the BEDB (Brunei Economic Development Board) or from the JPKE (Department of Economic Planning and Development) website. At the time of writing this, the JPKE website is down and cannot be accessed so we refer to the BEDB website.

The current Brunei system is based on reports covering only a few years so finding data over a large range of years is difficult. The PDF format makes exporting the data and graphs for research troublesome. Finding historical data is also difficult.

This problem can be solved through an online statistics database like the Australian website. The Australian service, which is the model for the online service we would like to see implemented, divides data into categories and is much easier to navigate through the website. It centralises all statistics so that any statistics we want to find about Australia can be found on one website directly from the main page. The Australian Bureau of Statistics service allows for downloading of data as an Excel file which makes any comparisons and computations easier to carry out. The Bruneian website certainly looks nicer but in terms of functionality the Australian service is much better than Brunei’s.

Brunei should build a similar online service to the Australian one. All the statistics of Brunei would be converted to electronic format and stored on this website for anyone to use. The data would be split into categories and can be downloaded in Excel format for ease of use. By centralising all the data, it will be a “one stop shop” for anyone looking for statistics on Brunei. By keeping the site simple and easy to navigate, there will be less chance the website goes down as the JPKE website currently is and no one would get “lost” in the website.

This service would greatly increase the amount of information people have about Brunei, helping to educate the younger generation and making research on Brunei easier and more detailed. Currently, it is easier to get data on Brunei over a large range of years from foreign organisations that from using our own websites. One of the main points of eGovernment is to help information pass easily between departments and to the public. But statistics, one of the most basic forms of information, is not easily accessible by the public with the current system. This idea of an online statistics database would be very helpful for students, teachers, government departments and the public to access the entire archive of all of Brunei’s statistics quickly and easily.

References

Brunei Economic Development Board website http://www.bedb.com.bn (Date accessed: 5^th April 2010)

Australian Bureau of Statistics website http://www.abs.gov.au (Date accessed: 5^th April 2010)

Chat Support

Chat support function is a service that is quite commonly provided by businesses. It is a special chat place on the website where questions will be answered immediately since the businesses will hire people to answer their questions live.

To have this chat support function, the businesses or companies need to have the live support software on their website. There are several kinds of chat support programs; including LivePerson Pro, LiveHelper Pro, PHP Live, Groopz and many more.

Below is the screenshot of the form to create a trial account for PHP Live.

Since it is a live chat on the website, all the conversations are recorded and thus, such programs can keep track of all the conversations and find out the most commonly asked questions. Below is the screenshot of a list of visitors and the questions they asked.

Currently, queries to government departmens are done either in person, over the phone or through email using a feedback form. However, these only operate during normal working hours and many departments lack a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.

Below is a screenshot of how the public can get in contact with a Brunei government department.

Below is the screenshot of the feedback form of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

It would be beneficial if the government of Brunei provided a chat support service. Time is saved as people need not queue at the department in order to ask even the simplest questions. There are no worries of no one manning the phones during lunch or tea breaks. There is no delay in getting a response as is the case with a feedback form. Also, by allowing queries to be instantly answered application procedures will become simpler.

Since it is easy to keep track of the questions asked then commonly asked questions can be answered in detail in a FAQ section and thus, the public can easily refer to this and not have to constantly ask the same questions. This service provides 24hour support. It would create new jobs and the training would be simple enough as a detailed book of information could be provided to the employees providing this service. Any questions not answered by this information book can be added to it in order to provide better service to the public. In this case, the contact details of the person who made the unanswered query would be taken down and they can be replied to as soon as possible. In addition, since it is online, it is possible for the chat support team to work from home which is a benefit of this job.

This chat support function would provide real-time help for the confused public as well as serving to assist in recording comments and suggestions. Users who ask for chat support to locate a certain part of the website draws attention to the hard to navigate sections of the website. Users having difficulty in an application process highlights area where these procedures could be simplified. Due to the service providing the public with more anonymity that a phone call or feedback form, people are more likely to voice out their criticisms which can help the government departments to be truly aware of the areas the public see them as lacking in. Like a feedback form, the exact details of what was asked and the reply to this are recorded. This is an advantage as it would help to act as a measure of how well queries are dealt with. Phone calls and face-to-face meetings are not recorded and inappropriate behaviour by government employees is harder to spot.

The Brunei government should have this chat support function as one of the e-government services provided to the people. This service has seen more use in the private sector but it is a technological leap forward in how the government can provide help to the public. Calls and emails are bypassed to provide this service, which gives instant replies and is recorded in a way that is easy to sort through. This service would make departments more efficient and speeds up how quickly their services are improved, as well as fixing potential problems. With regular checking of the data recorded by this chat support function, government departments learn what the public is confused about as well as the ways they are having trouble dealing with the department. This service combines a suggestion box and a helpline, and takes it to the next level. With this service, the public will find it easier to query information and make suggestions to departments. It will not replace the other ways that the public can make queries but it frees up the employees at government departments to work on applications and procedures instead of constantly answering the questions of the public.

Reference:
Lewis I., More about the chat support outsourcing, http://www.ideamarketers.com/?articleid=1000104&CFID=23967423&CFTOKEN=50411275, Date Accessed: 6th April 2010.

Padurano B., December 4 2009, Top Best Live Chat Support Software for Live Support and Live Help, http://ceoworld.biz/ceo/2009/12/04/top-best-live-chat-support-software-for-live-support-and-live-help, Date Accessed: 6th April 2010.

http://www.jpm.gov.bn/. Date Accessed: 9th April 2010.

Electronic Visa (E-Visa)

The tourism industry in Brunei has played a major role in improving the economy of the country. Therefore, many strategies and changes have been implemented to attract more tourists into the Sultanate. From 2007 to 2008, there was a 36% rise in tourist arrivals, from 176,000 to 240,000 visitors. With the large rise in the number of tourists, it suggests that Brunei has the potential for large growth in the tourism industry.

One of the ways that can improve the tourism industry is by having E-Visa application, i.e. applying for visas online. Australia is one of the countries that uses this E-Visa service.

What is E-Visa?

An E-Visa or electronic visa is an online service that allows tourist to apply for visas online without needing to get any stamps on their passport. This process can be completed without the need of emailing the documents to the foreign nation. Furthermore, it includes different types of visas such as a student visa or a tourist visa. One of the most common types is the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) visa which is for tourists who wish to visit the country for less than 3 months.

Below is the screenshot of the Australian Government website: http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/

How the system would work?

This system provides services 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, unlike a normal visa office. Many unnecessary steps are cut down to simplify the process of E-Visa. Due to this, it can reduce the processing time from a few days to just 20 minutes. Therefore, there is no need to send our passports across borders or go to the embassy for applications. Upon approval the E-Visa can be printed out and brought along for the trip.

The steps for applying for a E-Visa:

First, we need to answer a few questions to ensure that we have selected the right application. After that, information regarding the specific application we are making will be provided to ensure it is the right visa we wish to apply for. Then, we fill in the application form, submit it and proceed to pay the services by credit card. After the bank and Immigration Department have accepted the payment, a Transaction Reference Number will be given to generate the application. Finally, we need to print out the receipt and documents that required by the Immigration Department such as the health form.

How E-Visa can benefit the country?

This service does not require the submission of any paper-based application form and supporting documents as most of the important details are being asked throughout the process. With the simple steps of applying visas online, it can increase the volume of foreign visitors visiting our country, as it is much easier for them to get the tourist visa. This will therefore improve the economy of the country through the tourism industry. This online service also helps the government to reduce the cost of service. In addition, it can increase data integrity and improve reporting capability too. The service is also as secure as a normal visa application as immigration can easily check that the details on the E-Visa matches their passport, and refuse entry into the country for any inconsistencies. With all these benefits, the Brunei government should include this system in their e-government services.

References:

1) http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ accessed on 4^th April 2010

2) http://www.bt.com.bn/en/home_news/2009/03/14/accurate_statistics_vital_in_development_of_tourism_sector accessed on 4th April 2010

3) http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-electronic-visa.htm accessed on 6^th April 2010

4) http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/Other/UNPAN022289.pdf accessed on 6^th April 2010