Abu Dhabi Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) said it has launched “Musharaka”, a new knowledge management solution built to create a more structured and efficient government information systems’ network.

This pioneering project is a first for the region and was designed to create a knowledge platform shared between Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Western Region municipalities, as well as the DMA.

In implementing “Musharaka”, Link Development also had to integrate with the different back-end systems of the various municipalities, said a DMA statement.

Collectively these organizations employ nearly 5,000 people, it added

The DMA showcased it to government organizations at 'The World of Knowledge Management,” seminar organized by Link Development and SmartLogic in Abu Dhabi recently.

It highlighted the benefits of knowledge management to government organizations and private enterprises, showcasing Abu Dhabi’s initiative.

Professor Allam Ahmed, Consultant Knowledge Management at the Business Support Division at DMA who led the initiative, shared with the delegates DMA’s experience in implementing “Musharaka.”

The initiative integrates productivity and search towards a comprehensive knowledge management. A solid knowledge management strategy was supported through the integration of various technologies, such as Microsoft FAST Search, SharePoint, BizTalk, and Smartlogic’s Semaphore.

“In order to deliver competitive, innovative and improved services to our staff, and at later stages to citizens across the UAE, a strategic change in structure was called for,” said Prof Ahmed.

“There are numerous municipalities in Abu Dhabi that have been up to now unconnected. Implementing “Musharaka” with Link Development and SmartLogic has enabled us to connect all entities under one content classification and taxonomy management system,' he explained.

'This will enable government staff to access data and documents across a variety of platforms,' he added.

“Musharaka” solution improves the overall staff performance and collaboration between organizations, departments and individuals, while increasing both information “findability” and accessibility.

“Musharaka” integrates with Smartlogic Semaphore platform which analyzes the content of those knowledge assets in order to classify the information in the backend.

Staff will reap the benefits of community sites as well as, numerous related features available throughout the portals such as, blogs, wikis, discussion forums, document workspaces, newsletters, and RSS feeds.

Such features encourage and enable staff to create some knowledge assets to be shared across all DMA entities.

“In today’s dynamic and highly agile business environment, organizations are facing growing challenges in creating, capturing, organizing, sharing and refining information and content across teams and geographic locations,” said Irini Rafaat, managing director of Link Development.

“We have tailored our solution to support organizational knowledge management strategies with the right technology tools for collaboration, information management and enhanced find-ability to optimize operations and foster innovation,” she added.

The system is based on Microsoft Office SharePoint and provides the five different bilingual intranet portals with a variety of capabilities and features intended to improve employees’ overall collaboration and performance.

Richard Pinder, commercial director EMEA, SmartLogic said: “As a partner, we are excited to have played an exceptional role in implementing a world-class knowledge management solution that leverages the latest semantic technologies and practices, as well as has the potential to deliver great value to our clients in the Gulf region.'-TradeArabia News Service