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Bandar Seri
Begawan – The Public Works Department's customer service drive
has received yet another shot in the arm with the unveiling of a proj - ect to implement an
electronic billing system for water utilities.
The Water Services Department under Public Works will be
collaborating with local IT solutions provider ZNet
Technologies on the installation and maintenance of the eBilling
Integrated System (eBIS). The system will enable
workers responsible for reading water meters to issue utility bills to the
respective consumers on site, thus improving on the efficacy of current
billing procedures. The department hopes to improve its service delivery by
facilitating the middleman process in data gathering and reducing response
time.
At present, the Water Services Department has to regularly deploy
a team to collect meter readings and return to base to report and process
their amassed data before utility bills can be sent out.
ZNet Technologies manager Lim Soon Bee said the workers
will be equipped with a rugged portable computer for site visits, and that
they will be able to print physical bills on the fly.
"Information will be stored in the device, and will be sent
directly to the eBIS at the office for
storage," he said.
He predicted that the new system, the installation of which is due
to be completed within nine months' time, would assist the department
greatly in its tasks.
"We will be working closely with the Water Services
Department to modify their workflow, but also making some changes to (eBIS) to suit them better," said Lim.
The new service will be made available in all four administrative
districts.
A ceremony to observe the inauguration of the eBIS
project was held yesterday afternoon at the Ministry of Development. The
guest of honour, the Permanent Secretary of
Administration and Finance at the Ministry of Development Brahim Ismail, was present to
witness the contract signing between senior representatives from ZNet Technologies, acting director-general of the
Public Works Department Mohamad Zin Awg Salleh
and acting director of Water Services
Abu Hanipah Talip.
So far eBis is the fourth in a series of
e-government projects embraced by the Public Works Department. Previously ZNet Technologies won a tender to supply the
aforementioned department the Project Management Information System
Enterprise (PROMISe) in 2005.
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