Dubai Customs (DC) has been shortlisted for the final stage of the Hamdan bin Mohammed Award for Smart Government (HbMASG), which is organised by Dubai’ The Model Centre, an entity under the General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Dubai.
DC qualified for two categories of the award, namely ‘Best Partnership with the Private Sector’ with ‘Electronic Tracking of Cargo Transfer’ initiative; and ‘Best Internal Collabroation for Improvement’ with ‘Cargo Reconciliation’ initiative.
The public started voting for the nominated initiatives on November 19 and the voting will run through December 8 midnight, via the Hamdan bin Mohammed Programme for Smart Government’s smart app (HbMPSG) on iOS and Android and the website
http://vote.dtmc.gov.ae.
The public therefore is encouraged to vote for DC’s two initiatives that are nominated for the HbMASG, the premier and most prestigious award for public service excellence in Dubai.
Winners of the Hamdan bin Mohammed Award for Smart Government will be announced at the Award’s annual ceremony to be held during this December. The initiative that gets the most public votes will win “The HbMSG Flag” and hold it for the year ahead.
The ‘Electronic Tracking of Cargo Transfer’ initiative, in association with Emirates Sky Cargo, DP World and Dnata, provides unprecedented services to cargo handlers, shipping agents and forwarders, and customs brokers.
Before this initiative, the entire process of cargo transfer and deposits refund was manual. Through this initiative, the cargo transfer can now be tracked electronically without the need for deposits, or any visits to Customs. E-notifications of cargo movement are being sent instantly, and the whole process is now 100% online and transaction takes only 4 minutes.
The new improved system allows automated deposit refund, reduction of field visits, and seamless integration with the cargo handlers and CTOs through across-channel movements, which resulted in AED 150 million savings for Dubai Customs and clients.
The initiative was developed based on internal resources and existing technology, such as DC’s flagship system – Mirsal 2 , which were effectively utilized to develop it in the most cost-effective manner. A total of 50 employees were engaged for the project, in close collaboration with the clients to ensure their expectations are met and identify further areas of improvement.
Post the system roll-out, clients were sufficiently trained on it and the initiative required major system changes at stakeholders’ end to ensure seamless movement and automatic clearance of cargo.
The other shortlisted initiative that has made it to the finals of HbMPSG awards in the ‘Best Internal Collaboration for Improvement’ category - The Cargo Reconciliation, has saved about AED 50 million as transportation costs for clients who are no longer required to conduct multiple visits to DC centers, thanks to the facility of exchanging electronic messages with handling authorities on the process of goods reconciliation.
The public can till December 8 find out more about the DC’s nominated initiatives through online animated videos showcasing the benefits they bring in to both clients and Customs, in terms of substantial time and cost savings, as well as their overall positive impact on the functions of protection and facilitation.
The regulations of Dubai' The Model Centre state that employees of the nominated entity are not eligible for voting and each eligible person is only allowed to cast one vote for each award category.
Dubai Customs bagged 3 HbMPSG awards in 2014, including the ‘Best Service Centre Manager’ which was acquired by Ibrahim Ali Al Kamali, Senior Manager of Terminal 3 Airport Customs Operations; the ‘Best Internal Collaboration for Improvement’ won by the online Vehicle Clearance Certificate (VCC) initiative, and the ‘Best Partnership with the Private Sector’ which went to the Customs Clearance initiative. The latter was on equal with DP world.
DC also claimed the ‘Best Improvement Team Leader’ category in last year’s edition by Ahmed Abdul Salam Kazim, Director of Strategy and Corporate Excellence.