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 The
Ministry’s Strategic Plan document clearly outlines
its ICT goal as follows:
- To develop the infrastructure of information
and communication technology and its employment
in education and learning.
The Objectives for ICT are also clearly spelt out
in the Strategic Plan. These are:
- To establish an integrated system for the application
of information technology.
- To establish an integrated system for the application
of communication technology in education.
The Computer and Information Center (CIC) in the
Ministry of Education was established in 1416H (1996)
to be able to carry forward this mission. The CIC is
directly under the supervision of the office of the
Minister of Education. Initially, it began by offering
basic computing services. Today, it has expanded a great
deal in terms of capacity and range of services being
offered. Also, the maturity of its processes has seen
a steady growth.
The CIC has began the implementation of proven IT Systems
Management processes and procedures based on global
standards like ITIL to improve its functioning and effectiveness
way back in the year 2003. The CIC has set up a full-fledged
Service Desk which serves as a single point of contact
for all users in the Ministry to submit requests for
IT related services and to resolve issues faced by them
in the use of their computer equipment and software.
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Applications Development
The CIC has designed and developed various software
applications to assist in the proper and effective management
of the Ministry's financial and human resources. Moreover
it has provided access to these applications and their
respective databases to all Directorates and Ministry
offices spread across the country to enable real-time
access to crucial information. Other software applications
are in the process of development to cater both to the
educational requirements and information needs of various
agencies within and outside the Ministry. The CIC is
in the process of web-enabling the existing software
applications to enable easy and secure access to information
for researchers, administrators and other authorized
educational staff.
Video Conferencing Project
From the beginning of 1425, the Computer and Information
Centre (CIC) embarked on an ambitious Video Conferencing
project whereby all major directorates will be able
to interactively participate in virtual meetings with
their colleagues and managers. Presently, Video Conferencing
facilities have been established between the Minister's
office, the Vice Minister for Girls' Education, the
offices of various deputy ministers, and Computer and
Information Centre (CIC) headquarters. In the near future,
most other major offices will be able to avail this
facility. Towards this end, the CIC has initiated a
project to implement high-speed VSAT connectivity between
all its major departments within and outside Riyadh.
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WAN Expansion: VSAT and IP-VPN
To enable unhindered access to all information in its
central database, the CIC has already implemented a
state-of-the-art wide area network connecting most educational
directorates and teachers colleges to the Ministry's
Head Office in Riyadh. Incidentally, an expansion of
the existing wide area network is in progress to enable
linking of the girls' educational directorates and female
teachers colleges as well so that they too can benefit
from the available management and educational systems.
This is in accordance with the ministerial decision
which combined general management of Computer and Information
Center in boys' education department with the general
management of computer and information center in the
girls' education department to be merged as one department
called Computer and Information Center.
The present WAN which is based on Frame Relay technology
is being upgraded incorporating the latest MPLS technology
also called IP-VPN.
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Portal Project
Among the major projects on hand is the design and development
of a major Web-Portal for the entire Ministry of Education
to enable greater collaboration and information sharing.
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IT Strategy
Very recently, the CIC has also prepared a comprehensive
and future-proof IT Strategy document. The IT Strategy
is the first step towards the eventual migration of
the CIC to a state-of-the-art Data Center from its present
location. The IT Strategy also takes into account the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's vision to enable its citizens
to keep pace with the rest of the developed world in
all spheres of life through the design, development
and deployment of an E-Learning Infrastructure and related
resources.
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ICT in Schools
An exclusive department under the CIC is responsible
for implementing ICT in schools. The following are their
achievements and their main responsibilities:
- Deployment of IT labs in the Kingdom schools
for boys & girls sector:
- More than 3,000 labs for all secondary schools
(around 51,000 PCs)
- 2,300 labs for intermediate & elementary
schools (around 39,100 PCs)
- More than 2,000 Learning Resources Centers.
(around 12,000 PCs)
- Every lab has its own LAN, screen monitoring
software.
- Each system is equipped with e-learning
nuggets, and other utility software
- Implementing a Wireless LAN pilot project with
3com, hp, Cisco and local partners in selected schools
- Partnering with IT majors for the following:
- Initiatives for teachers training.(30,000
teachers)
- Supporting the software, content and implementation
process for E-learning pilot project .
- IT consultancy.
- Supporting the network of E-learning pilot
project
- Training 6,000 teachers in ICT (for the
next 4 years)
- MCSA training for 1,000 IT teachers (in
the coming 3 years)
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PMO:
Vision and Mission
The MoE-CIC has recently set-up a Program Management
Office (PMO). The stated vision is to “establish a Centre
for Project Management Excellence in the MoE-CIC ensuring
efficient transformation of business strategy into business
benefit.”
The mission of the PMO is to:
- Become an efficient provider of timely, accurate
and appropriate Project information to all stakeholders
in MoE;
- Define and implement a Project Management Framework
and toolset to enable effective delivery of selected
projects or program initiatives in MoE;
- Define and develop a suite of Project Governance
and Project Audit/Assessment services;
- To lay the foundation upon which an effective
Project Management culture can grow & flourish;
- To guide MoE along the journey of Project Management
Maturity
Achievements
Among the major achievements of the PMO team, at the
end of the year 2007, is the successful roll-out of
a state-of-the-art Enterprise Project Management solution,
based on the MS Project Server 2007 suite.
Both, vendors and MoE project staff, can now update
project progress online and all project stakeholders
can monitor the progress of the project(s) and be alerted
about issues and risks in real-time. The solution also
allows for effective project collaboration and document
management, along with issue and risk management.
Extensive training material has been prepared by the
PMO team. A Project Management methodology based on
the recommendations of the Yesser project is in its
final stage of completion.
Several hands-on training sessions have also been conducted
to train MoE and vendor staff in applying project management
processes; and in using the MoE Project Portal for effective
project reporting and governance.
The training material and draft copies of the proposed
methodology are available in the relevant folders in
the
Shared Documents Library of the Project Web Portal
site. All MoE domain users have access to the same.
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