The Main Objectives Of Establishing Nadra Information Technology Essay

National database organization NDO was established under ministry of Interior. National database was possible due to information gathered through national Data forms during population Census 1998 The “Nadra” organization was setup in 10 march 2000 by merging national database organization NDO and Directorate General of Registration under the ministry of interior with the task of establishing a new registration system for the whole population of Pakistan and has a wide network throughout Pakistan.

In Pakistan, National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) is responsible for issuing Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC) to citizens. The organization claims to be the largest fully integrated database in the world that is having both an Automatic Finger Identification System (AFIS) & a Facial Recognition System. More than 81 million citizens have been issued by end of 2010 with a goal to equip all adult population with CNIC. (Muhammad Tariq Malik Dupity Chairman Nadra, Identity Management Conference Washington DC, Sep 27, 2010)

“NADRA is one of the leading System Integrators in the global identification sector and boasts extensive experience in designing, implementing and operating solutions for corporate and public sector clients. NADRA offers its clients a portfolio of customizable solutions for identification, e-governance and secure documents. NADRA has successfully implemented the Multi-Biometric National Identity Card & Multi-Biometric e-Passport solutions for Pakistan.” (Home page of NADRA website)

Fig: (Muhammad Tariq Malik Dupity Chairman Nadra, Identity Management Conference Washington DC, Sep 27, 2010)

Objectives:

The main Objectives of establishing NADRA were

Custodian of Pakistani Identity

Reliability (Restoring National & International Confidence)

National Information Infrastructure

Customer Care

Corruption Free

Convenience and Efficiency

Creation of a centralized Data Warehouse, Network Data Warehouse, Network Infrastructure in addition to Interactive Data and Interactive Data Infrastructure

Creation of a System in order to issue secure Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC). Also to provide base for the (CNIC) and better governance of Pakistan. Moreover to prove as a model organization for Public Sector of Pakistan. (Shahbaz Tahir Nadim, Deputy Director ICT Administration Islamabad NADRA)

Electronic Government:

E government is the basically the system which involves activities to modernize none developed and paper based systems. In E government system, it refers to establish strong connection between information technologies and traditional and physical based systems.

Physical systems consist of boundaries which does not fulfill requirements of customers. Information technology based systems enhances control and capacity over a number of individuals. E government is such platform which has main focus on communication, integrity and real time implementation.

The main objective of E government is to build up connection between government services and the citizens. Its growing process which is basically transformation of non-automated current systems into automated, computerization and technology based systems. (E government paper of Patricia J.Pascual in may 2003)(no need to change)

All over the world in order to do business with citizens, governments are taking more innovative approaches (Fang, 2002). According to Pardo (2000), e-government initiatives constitute of citizen access to government information; facilitating compliance with rules; citizen access to personal benefits, procurement including bidding, purchasing, and payment; government-to-government information and service integration; and citizen participation (voting, etc) and others. One of the most common e-government initiatives is to provide citizens access to government information. This type of initiative requires establishment of a mechanism such as a government web portal Such initiatives are beneficial for both citizens and government by reducing distribution costs for government, and ensuring 24×7 access to information and timely updated materials for citizen. In order to create a citizen-centric government, most e-government initiatives are using the Internet and web technology such as online licensing, grants, tax transactions, financial aid, online voting, forums with elected officials (DeBenedictis et al., 2002). (Government e-Service Delivery: Identification of Success Factors from Citizens’ Perspective Parmita Saha)

E-Services:

An e-service is a piece of software which is part of the Government web system and whose aim is to automate or partly automate one particular administrative process. This process can be triggered by a request from a citizen.

E-Services can be used electronically for all interaction between citizens and government agencies, availing services from the government, understanding the status of work in progress and accessing results of the process. e.g. Obtaining birth certificates and National Identity Cards, requesting a vehicle registration, applying for unemployment benefits, paying a parking fine, issuing a complaint on the performance of the agency’s staff etc. (Reference Rqd.)

E-Services Types

Types of e-Services to citizens in E-Government, like any e-business, are generally divided into the following categories:

Informational: Gartner notes that “the vast majority of governments” have developed a Web presence and have moved on to further development.[9]

This is the first phase and includes the provision of information alone. The quality, usability and currency of the content determine the value of this phase of e-government. This is the least complex of all the phases. [12]

Interactive: In this phase, E-Government provides some degree of online interaction. For instance, citizens can enter complaints or job applications online. This phase does not include secure transactions such as financial or other transactions that require a high degree of authorization and audit. [12]

Transactional: Enabling e-citizens to complete tasks online is the major characteristic of this critical third phase (Gartner) [9]. It provides secure transactions with high level of authorization. Citizens can now apply online for passports, NICs and make payments online. This requires a high degree of security and basic infrastructure allowing for secure transactions. [12]

Collaborative: In this phase citizens and businesses collaborate with the government on Processes, projects, etc. This is especially important for businesses working together with the government on projects, for public-private partnerships, NGOs, citizen forums, etc. This phase requires a collaboration infrastructure, which brings together suppliers, consumers and the government in a network with the object of increasing value creation. (e-govt services in Pakistan haroon & waqas).

Need to make connection of e-govt with CNIC by NADRA

Administrative Structure

One Headquarter Islamabad (HQ)

Eight Regional Headquarters (RHQ

Karchi, Quetta, Sukhar, Multan, Lahore, Sargodha, Peshawar and Islamabad

District Registration Offices (DRO)

374 NADRA Swift Registration Centre (NSRC)

Sub DRO (SDRO)

Satellite Swift Registration Centre (SSRC)

201 Mobile Van Registration Centre (MVRC)

Products of Nadra:

Nadra has produced different other products also except CNIC. Moreover, Nadra has provided some solutions to other organizations and have some partners too. Some details about its products, services, solutions and partners are written below.

Computerized National ID Cards (CNIC)

Computerized National Identity Card is the fundamental product of NADRA, which is issued to the citizens of Pakistan. All 18 Years and above citizen of Pakistan are eligible for CNIC (Computerized National Identity Card). Latest technology and infrastructure is employed in order to guarantee its authenticity and validity.

National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)

NADRA also provide the facility for ID cards to Pakistani workers or immigrants and who are living outside Pakistan and having dual nationality that have registration under the NADRA Ordinance. This card is named as National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis which can be used on the place of NIC according to the needs.

Pakistan Origin Card (POC)

The Pakistan Origin Card program provides eligible foreigners or overseas Pakistanis to get back to Pakistan with the services like visa free entry to Pakistan, exemption from foreigner registration requirements, indefinite stay and open and operate accounts in bank etc.

Children Registration Certificate (CRC)

Registration of Childs is the basic right that all countries provide to the children of its citizens. Pakistan is a signatory on Article 7 of UN Convention on the Rights of Children. Children registration is essential in order to ensure provision of health and educational facilities to the Childs. So NADRA registers the Childs and issues CRC as an identity certificate to the children of Pakistan.

Machine Readable Passports (MRP)

Vehicle Identification and Monitoring System (VIMS)

NADRA has developed the multiple branched electronic Vehicle Management system that utilizes Radio Frequency Identification Device technology in order to identify vehicles approaching check Posts at entry or exit with monitoring at the central control room. Designated Check Posts are well equipped with latest technology i,e cameras, static scanners, Radio Frequency Identification Device antennas and magnetic loops that are able to read the Radio Frequency Identification Device tags on passing vehicles.

Multi biometric Id card

NADRA has developed a system which produces unique citizen identification numbers for the whole population. Multi Biometric has Facial Recognition System, Automated Finger Identification System and also has the ability of providing identity verification.

Nadra online billing payment Kiosk

NADRA is also work on e-Commerce services Kiosk from October 2006. The basic purpose of this product is to facilitate public with electronic bill payment system and also electronic transactions.

CNIC

The Computerized National ID Card (CNIC) includes a sophisticated array of security features to safeguard against fraud and improper use. The CNIC contains machine-readable information, although characteristics can be seen with the naked eye and others must be verified using optical aids. The special characteristics of the CNIC will protect its integrity.

Services

Issuance of new CNIC

Modification of CNIC

Duplicate of CNIC

Correction of Official Mistake in CNIC

Cancellation of CNIC (In case of death).

Detailed Application Procedure

Data Acquisition at Data Acquisition Unit (DAU)

Issuance of Token

Photo Capturing

Thumb and Signatures

Data Acquisition by DEO

Form Printing

Attestation & Form Submission

Data uploading to NADRA Data Warehouse

Verification and Clearance from NADRA Data Warehouse

Printing at Production

Delivery of CNIC to NSRC

CNIC application requirements

A CNIC applicant is required to produce the following documents at the time of application:

Birth Certificate or

Old NIC or

Matriculation Certificate or

CNICs of immediate/blood relatives

Citizenship certificate issued by MOI

Note

No documents are demanded from illiterate applicant for age verification for first time.

Residents of FATA/PATA will only be entertained at their native DAUs and their forms will be attested by concerned PA/APA.

For further details please refer to the checklist in related downloads or call usÂ on our UANÂ 111-786-100.

Problem Discussion:

The usage of information technology and the web has obtained boosting growth all over the world so in result of that governments are also increasingly utilizing information and communication technology to deliver services at all levels, with the objectives of increase in quality of service and efficiency in their operations.

The main purpose of introducing e-Government is provision of government services to the citizens quickly, effectively and accurately. Moreover the final goal of e government is to facilitate citizen to access government with greater ease, putting fewer efforts and in an economical way.

But the government agencies are facing challenges in improving competitive service quality.

It is necessary to develop ways to measure and evaluate the success of e-government initiatives. The major weakness remains in the limited amount of assessment of the demands, benefits, and service quality of government initiatives (Jaeger & Thompson, 2003). It is difficult for governments to determine adequate measures for evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of the spending of their public money (Peters et al., 2004).

Thus, how to measure the progress made in the field of e-government is one of the central questions for researchers (Peters et al., 2004). They examined some examples of measurement instruments that were developed to measure progress in e-Government. Lihua & Zheng (2005) identified e-government performance as a dependent variable that includes service level to constituents and operational efficiency. They used four items to represent service level to constituents: (1) improved quality of output in service delivery; (2) increase client satisfaction; (3) provide another means to access to the information collected, generated and disseminated by the government; (4) improved communication with citizens about public issues.

Success is the ultimate goal of any activity. A project is considered successful if it has some criteria such as right time, price, and quality, and also provides the client with a high level of satisfaction. Success means to what extent project goals and expectations are met. Literature indicates that the criteria for project success can be divided into objective and subjective

categories as well as more significant measures such as time, quality and satisfaction (Chan et al., 2002). Two more criteria could be used as measurements of success for a project: namely the system itself as an outcome and the benefits that ensue for the project stakeholders, for

example its customers or users. Since it is difficult to measure system success directly, many researchers have used indirect measures such as satisfaction (Seddon & Yip, 1992). DeLone & McLean (1992) have

identified appropriate measures of success at different levels. They identified six systems criteria to measure the success of a system. They are: system quality, information quality, information use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational impact.

According to Seddon and Kiew (1996), “user satisfaction is the most general-purpose perceptual measure of system success.”

e-govt projects targets a wide range of topics, including infrastructure development, the legal envoirment surrounding e-government development, policies (national, regional , local), digital divide issues, literacy, education, accessability, trust (in technology as well as in government), transparency, interoperability (among government egencies), managing records, sustainability, public-private cooperation/partnerships, cost structures and incentives.

e-government has been employed by developed as well as developing countries to be an enabler toward accelerating processes, delivering a high level of services to citizens and businesses, increasing transparency, and accountability while lowering costs. It is in this light that the government of Pakistan has also established the e-government Directorate under the Ministry of IT. (e-govt services in Pakistan haroon & waqas).

The present status of electronic government services in Pakistan are described according to their usage and interaction abilities. Some of services are at mature stage but some are at initiative stage. The Government of Pakistan embarked upon a lot of initiatives around the turn of the century in order to introduce computerization in the official business and also provide services of E-Government to the citizens of Pakistan. The most significant project in this regard was the development of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) that has been mandated to collect and computerize all the demographic data related to citizens and to facilitate people of Pakistan with a number of services, using the Information and Communication Technology based solutions. The NADRA has been successful in issuing about 50 million Computerized National Identity Cards.

In Pakistan, the “Nadra” organization was established in 10 march 2000 in order to set up a new registration system for the entire population of Pakistan and has a wide network throughout Pakistan. The government replaces old department of Identity card department of Pakistan by NADRA (National Data Warehouse and Registration Authority), which issued Computerized National Identification Cards. The old system was manual and paper based so this act of the government was to improve the quality and efficiency of the system.

CNIC (Computerized National Identity Card) is the core product of NADRA issued to a valid/legitimate citizen of Pakistan. It is a blend of state-of-the-art technology and well-defined business rules to guarantee its authenticity and validity. Every genuine, 18 Years and above, citizen of Pakistan is eligible for CNIC.

An identity document (also called a piece of identification or ID, or colloquially as one’s ‘”papers”‘) is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person’s personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card (IC).

Computerized National Identity Card is one of the most developed and widely used services as Compared to other online service delivered by government of Pakistan. In the public sector with the move of Computerized National Identity Card by NADRA from manual or papers based National Identity Card , NADRA authorities tended to be leading edge of IT application. Careful consideration of citizens’ expectations and perception is important. To make this service effective and this service delivery process should be more user-friendly compare to service delivered by traditional or previous system. Since perceived quality and efficiency of the required object is one of the important determinants of the system on the basis of user perception and expectations. Compare to the previous system, procedure of present CNIC system by NADRA is more complicated for a common man, so it must be clear and easy to be used by ordinary CNIC applicant.

From different types of resources like internet resources, media, literature and personal experiences we came to know that users are not fully satisfied with current system and demanding more progress in this e-service. Even some of citizens still believe that problem of previous system still exist in current system regarding quality and efficiency matters.

Purpose:

Pakistan is a developing country and tries to promote computerization in departments and implementing e-government services. Pakistan has launched different projects and has consumed a large amount of funds on these projects. To what extend these projects has been successful and meets the targets, it is needed to evaluate. Computerized National Identity Card by Nadra has replaces the old manual (paper based) system, having different objectives in front. The main objectives were to improve quality of the identity card and system and make process efficient. And also how much the new system is effective. It is very hard to address all issues and discuss everything, therefore we are going to focus on basic things and analyze which improvements in the system after replacement of old id card system by CNIC. The government should know how much Nadra is successful in order to improve quality and efficiency of identity card system. Our purpose is to analyze improvement in the current ID card system as compared to previous one.

Research Question:

Evaluation of quality and efficiency of Computerized National Identity Card by Nadra compared with previous System.

Methodology:

Innovation Evaluating approaches

According to the March and Smith (1995) “evaluate refers to the development of criteria and assessment of artefact performance against those criteria”. We (March and Smith) try determine if we have made any progress. The basic question is how well does it work? Evaluation requires the development of metrics and measurement of artefacts according to those metrics. Metrics define what we are trying to accomplish. They are use to asses the performance of artefact”. March and Smith (1995)wrote also that, if the artefact (i.e. construct, model, method or instantiation is really novel, “actual performance evaluation is not required at this stage”. To our mind, both building and use processes of an innovation must be evaluated. The evaluation of innovation must cover both processes, actually the whole life of an innovation from an idea to the first realization and then use, and finally to its demolition must be evaluated. The final stage of an artefact may mean either a transition from use of the old artefact to use of new one or the finish of its use.

Evaluation of scientific process contains four things construct, model, method and instantiation. These all terms can be defined in detail according to different authors. March and Smith (1995) describes that “research in the evaluate activity develops metrics and compares the performance of constructs, models, methods and instantiations for specific tasks”. Metrics can be defined as what a research area is trying to accomplish. Evaluation is the main activity for assessing such research.We can define construct,model,method and Instantiation below. Evaluation is a process of of determining how well the artefact performs.

Construct

According to March and Smith and their universal metrics, Construct means completeness, simplicity, elegance, understandbility and ease of use.

Model

Model can be defined according to March and Smith and their universal metrics in sense of fidelity with real world phenomena, completeness, level of detail, robustness and internal consistency.

Method

Method can be defined according to March and Smith and their universal metrics in sense of operationally (the ability to perform the intended task or the ability of humans effectively use the method if it is algorithmic),efficiency, generality and ease of use.

Instantiation

According to March and Smith and their universal metrics instantiation can be defined as the efficiency and effectiveness of the artifact and its impacts on the environment and its users.

In the fourth generation evaluation is guided by several rules that are generated by considering five concepts: value pluralism, stakeholder construction, fairness, merit and worth and negotiations (Guba and Lincoln 1987,p.209).The fourth generation evaluation is linked with interpretive approach(Walsham 1993,p.166).

Moreover I think most important aspects of evaluating of scientific method are operations, observations, models and utility functions. We should analyze which methodology is suitable for specific scientific process and justify why other methodologies are not fit for considering scientific process. Methodology is essential and first part to evaluate some process.Overal assessment also provides idea about general evaluation of paper. In evaluation criteria, it must be motivated about its concepts, theories with proper logics and reasons having authorized references. It must show scientific expertise why author is going to apply specific method in his paper. Scientific process should be ended with correct and impressive conclusion and explanation about future work. How much work can be enhanced in future in specific article? The evaluator must check integrity of the science, particularly the quality of its reasoning and its application of scientific principles and knowledge. Article should describe convincing answer to question of interest.

The evaluation process is basically assessment of originality and quality of scientific paper. The objective of scientific paper must be explained in detail with logical reasoning. In article it must be convinced to individuals through abstract, introduction/motivation, discussion, conclusion and extent of advance in sense of current state of knowledge or application whether the nature of progress is fundamental or incremental. It must be full of effectiveness and elegance of communication throughout the article. Technical terms must be explained properly wherever its necessary to tell about scientific terms and units.

Moreover evaluation criteria contain a lot of terms and condition like relevance study, testability, compatibility, prophetic power and simplicity.

March and Smith (1995) gave the recommendation.”The significance of research that builds subsequent constructs, models, methods and instantiations addressing the same task is judged based on significant improvement e.g. more comprehensive, better performance”.

In evaluation process, target state is not cleared ,no one can estimate about target state of innovation. Target state can be another representation of the model concept in this section. Target state can be some outcome either a new construct, model, method or instantiation.

According to March and Smith for (1995) for old existing outcome, difference between the old construct, model, method or instantiations and new one respectively and for new research outcome, actual performance evaluation is not required at this stage.

The total procedure of evaluation of existing system,

Introduction

Survey of earlier methods

Survey of general problem solving methods.

Construction of the new method.

Comparison of the new method with the old system.

Discussions.

According to March and Smith “evaluation of constructs tends to involve completeness,simplicity,elegance,understandbility and ease of use”.Boland and Tenkasi (1995) analyzed knowledge intensive firms with specialities and knowledge desciplens.Boland and Tenkasi presented two models of language, communication (language game and conduit) and cognition for amplifying our thinking.

According to March and Smith models are treated as “evaluated in terms of their fidelity with real world phenomena, completeness ,level of detail ,robustness and internal consistency”.

Yap and Bjorn -Andersen(1998) analyzed different media from three aspects, richness of knowledge representation ,level of interactivity and richness of perspective.

Evaluation of methods according to March and Smith “operationality (the ability to perform the intended task or the ability of humans to effectively use the method if it is algorithmic),generality and ease of use. “

Evaluation of instantiations according to March and Smith “the efficiency and effectiveness of the rtifacr and its impacts on the environment and its users”.

Heiskanedn’s dissertation (1994) compared and related evaluation and took different views on evaluation from the learning and teaching domain “A most suitable starting point for understanding the subtleties of the construction of an assessment procedure of a social or an organizations system is provided by Guba and Lincoln(1987,1989) who argue that the evaluation of social and political programs has undergone three generations and the fourth is emerging”.

Dahlborn and Mathiassn (1997) studied the future of computing profession and found three focusing points.

Artifact focus

The computing profession is concerned with technical, computer based artifacts.

Culture Focus

The computer profession is concerned with computer based artifacts in practical context of their use.

Power Focus

The computer profession concerned with the role of computing in changing society and the live of people.

We shall use Innovation evaluating approach as from the literature review and our research question it is more relevant to use this approach. We are going to evaluate e-services of already existing e-government developed system which is named as NADRA with prospective of employees and some part of citizens. We will focus one e-services issuing of CNIC mainly in our thesis.

Due to evaluation of system we are going to follow Innovation evaluating approach in order to achieve our target state. As We have described about this approach and will process towards research work according to stages of above described approach. We are not building new innovation actually and not adding new e-service to current running system. Our research work does not match with Innovation building approach and Conceptual analytical approach.

The first step to take when conducting research is to evaluate the research strategies. There are five types of research strategies when conducting social science research: experiments, surveys, archival analysis, history, and case study (Yin 1994).

Depending on the type of research, there are advantages and disadvantages to all the research strategies. The most important criterion for deciding what strategy to use is to look at the research questions/objectives (Davey 1991, Yin 1981).

According to (Yin, 1994) Survey Strategy becomes more relevant when our research question is about (what, how much or how many) and our behavioral control is not firm and we are interested on contemporary events.

We will take interviews of certain people in order to analyze their experiences and requirements about e-services of NADRA. The citizens who have basic IT knowledge and insight concerning research question will be surveyed rather than any sample group of citizens. This research type will be more helpful in acquiring the results.

In our thesis e-Government can be analyzed from different points of views like what e-services are required by the citizens? and how these services can be made more progressive, effective or efficient? It is looking little bit hard job to evaluate and discuss about its all issues. Hence we are going to focus its primary participants – citizens and their relevant e-services.

Data Collection

Although a description of the actual procedural details and nuances of every qualitative data analysis strategy is well beyond the scope of a short paper, a general appreciation of the theoretical assumptions underlying some of the more common approaches can be helpful in understanding what a researcher is trying to say about how data were sorted, organised, conceptualised, refined, and interpreted. (Sally Thorne, 2006)

The choice of data collection method is a critical point in the research process. The decision is seldom easy, for there are many factors to be considered and many variations of the four basic survey methods.

Personal Interviews

Telephone Interviews

Mail Survey

Fax Survey

Because each research problem will have a different ranking of importance, and no data collection method is consistently superior, few generalizations can be made. (Aaker et al,1998, pp223)

Data can be collected using six different ways: Documents, Archival Records, Interviews, Direct Observations, Participant Observations and physical artifacts (Yin, 1994), p.85, Table 4.51

The research designer has a wide variety of methods to consider, either singly or in combination. They can be grouped first according to whether they use secondary or primary source of data. Secondary data are already available, because they were collected for some purpose other than present problem.

Primary Data are collected to address specially a specific research objective. (Aaker et al, 1998, pp77,78).

We will take personal interviews from group of employees of NADRA and may some citizens in order to analyze customer satisfaction from e-services of NADRA. We are planning to collect data through source of personal interviews. The employees can be included from manager to individual employees.

Research approach

The choice of research approach is not only dependent on researcher’s epistemological position and pre knowledge, but should also be influenced by the research questions we set out to illuminate (Yin, 1994).

Quantitative Research:

This research is used to answer questions about relationships among measured variables with the purpose of explaining, predicting and controlling phenomenon. This approach is sometime called traditional, experimental, positivist approach. Quantitative researchers seek explanations and predictions that will generalize to other persons and places. The intent is to establish, confirm or validate relationships to develop generalizations that contribute to theory. (Leedy, Ormrod, 2005, pp 94,95).

Qualitative Research:

This research is typically used to answer questions about the complex nature of phenomenon, often with the purpose of describing and understanding the phenomenon from the participants’ point of view. The qualitative approach is also referred to as the interpretative, constructivist, or post positivist approach. The qualitative researchers seek a better understanding of complex situations. Their work is often exploratory in nature, and they may use their observations to build theory from the ground up. (Leedy, Ormrod, 2005, pp 94,95).

We will follow qualitative approach in order to evaluate NADRA system. We shall compare already developed existing NADRA services with old paper based system.We will involve internal team of NADRA organization in order to conclude proper results.

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