The Singapore government unveiled on September 10 the first group of agencies that have moved onto its SOEasy Programme, a massive project that upgrades computers and networks.
The S$1.3 billion (US$888.6 million) Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOEasy) project is the largest IT project yet undertaken by the tech-savvy Singapore government and is intended improve efficiency and cut costs by standardising the computers, messaging infrastructure, and networking equipment used by government bodies in the Southeast Asian city-state.
The pioneer batch of SOEasy agencies includes the ministry of finance (MOF), ministry of information, communications and the arts (MICA), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and National Heritage Board (NHB).
"The SOEasy programme is a major undertaking that will bring about many benefits for our public officers. SOEasy is conceived to make public officers more efficient and effective in their work,” said Lim Hup Seng, deputy secretary (performance), ministry of finance.
Different agencies
Civil servants are able to use applications such as instant messaging and video conferencing to improve efficiency and productivity across different agencies.
IDA, the lead agency overseeing SOEasy, is promising more new services to come in the future. One example is the Unified Messaging package that combines the computer and IP telephone into a single integrated tool. This allows users to send and receive e-mail, voice mail, fax and SMS all via the same mailbox.
The next batch of agencies to move to the SOEasy platform includes the public service division, ministry of health, and Supreme Court. The project rollout is scheduled to be completed by 2010.
In total, 74 government agencies with around 60,000 employees will be using the SOEasy platform when the rollout is complete. Singapore's ministry of defence and the ministry of education are not included in the SOEasy project, as they have developed separate systems for their respective needs.
