MITTS Ltd Annual Report 2001
"We are not in the business of simply delivering Information Communications Technology solutions. We are in the business of partnering with our clients for the successful attainment of their goals".
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Chairman’s Statement
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A Dynamic and Consolidated Organisation
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Partnering with Our Clients – Together We Achieve More!
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Re-enforcing the ICT Framework
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Regulating the Cyber Era – Malta’s Cyber Laws
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Championing the Information Society and Information Economy
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A Caring Organisation
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Placing Knowledge at the Heart of MITTS Ltd
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Anticipating the Future
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Financial Statements 2001
MITTS LTD ANNUAL REPORT 2001
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CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
The Information Communication Technology (ICT) landscape within the Public Service is constantly in flux and 2001 has been no exception in this regard. Over the period under report, the implementation of the e-Government initiative gained momentum; the work relating to the reforms, including the underlying ICT changes, of business processes vis a vis the EU accession programme reached a crescendo; the introduction of the cyber legislative framework was completed; the dissemination of Internet and Electronic Mail across state schools reached its half way mark; and the many Information Systems applications across the Public Service continued to be enhanced in terms of changes to the respective legislative frameworks. MITTS Ltd stood at the heart of all this complex and comprehensive ICT programme of works – working in partnership with the Central Information Management Unit (CIMU) within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the newly constituted Information Management Units within Ministries and the respective ministry owners of the individual ICT initiatives and thrusts.
Board Members left to right: Joseph R Grima - Chairman Paul Galea, Anne McKenna Anthony Diacono and Joseph W Izzo
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When one stops and thinks of the capacity required to manage this range of projects and initiatives one cannot stop and wonder how far MITTS Ltd has come along since it was constituted as the Information Systems Division in October 1992 – only nine years ago. From an organisation highly dependent on expatriate skills at its genesis, MITTS Ltd is today wholly Maltese resourced with a skills force the average age of which is 25 years. Indeed, much has been undertaken and achieved. Yet, much more is required to be done for MITTS Ltd to retain and improve on the levels of excellence for which it stands as a landmark and of which it is so proud.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
In 2001, the Board focused MITTS Ltd strategic business to those areas that today are critical to good governance and public service management whilst at the same time ensuring that the operational overheads of MITTS Ltd are not only contained but reduced. Thus, MITTS Ltd initiated a business re-orientation programme which, over a period of four years, is set to see MITTS Ltd efforts directed towards strategic applications such as Inland Revenue, VAT, Social Security, Common Database and others; the management of the Malta Government Network (MAGNET); the establishment, and management of a risk and security framework; and the provision of project and contract management support to Government departments. This business strategy re-orientation programme necessitates the devolvement of lower value activity and the re-training and skilling of the staff released for migration to the new business focus. To facilitate this migration process, MITTS Ltd undertook steps to introduce two sub-contracting frameworks that would allow it to pass on the devolved work to the private sector whilst however retaining management responsibility and control. The first related to a framework directed to devolve desktop first level support through the newly established Service Call Centre (SCC). A pilot was launched involving one Ministry in the fourth quarter with plans to devolve up to 20% of the MITTS Ltd desktop population in 2002. The second related to a framework directed to farm out small and non-strategic application development – with the framework to be in place in early 2002. In tandem with the introduction of the supporting institutional framework substantial investment was made in development and re-skilling programmes in areas such as CISCO networking, new development tools and languages etc. As the operator of the core ICT infrastructure of Government, MITTS Ltd continued with its heavy investment programme to overhaul its infrastructural base. In fact, 2001 was planned to close at a deficit of Lm298,000 – a target that was managed – to finance the appropriate investment. Efforts were primarily directed towards the strengthening of the Internet infrastructure (which in 2001 saw the launch of the new GovNet set-up and the increase of the international bandwidth from 386k to 6MB); and electronic mail where in 22 servers distributed across the public service were consolidated on a four high performance server cluster. Moreover, substantial investment was directed towards the establishment of a disaster recovery set-up for electronic mail, departmental accounting
and the common database as well as contingency parameters for the continued operations of MAGNET. With regards to the latter, planning was initiated on the design of an architecture to proceed with the introduction of MAGNET II in 2002. The increasing financial pressures demand that MITTS Ltd aggressively explores ways in which it reduces the Total Cost of Ownership of the ICT service model it applies. 2001 saw MITTS Ltd undertake a sustained programme directed towards the streamlining of its internal processes and introduction of more cost effective mechanisms as well as reassessing maintenance models with its external suppliers to ensure that this is consistent with the risk model established. Significant savings were made in this regard. Furthermore, in order to strengthen its management information capacity to enable the effective management of cost, a cost management framework was drawn up and implementation initiated to bring in the appropriate cost management and project management engines respectively at the end of 2002, with integration to be reached in 2003. 2001 was a year for further changes within MITTS Ltd – strategic as well as operational. It was a tough year – yet one that has allowed us to strengthen the foundations of the Company as well as placing us in a far better position to meet the challenges of the future. Finally, I must thank my colleagues on the Board, the members of MITTS Ltd for their commitment, dedication and support, and the Chief Executive Officer, which without his inspiration, leadership and hard work we would not have achieved what we did in 2001.
J R Grima Chairman
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A DYNAMIC AND CONSOLIDATED ORGANISATION
The Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd (MITTS Ltd) is facing both exciting developments in the continued evolution of the use of ICT to assist in bringing about change in the Public Service as well as new challenges – internal as well as external to the organisation. Responding to new challenges and adapting to more change, more often and more quickly are the norm in the information age and the key to future success. MITTS Ltd has to move forward with a visionary focused and target oriented strategy which can meet the ever-changing challenges in the information economy. The 2001 saw MITTS Ltd build on the existing foundations in conjunction with the determination of a way forward to continue focusing resources to support Government strategic intentions in terms of ICT at both macro and micro levels. Internal efforts in 2001, were directed towards stabilising the organisational make-up that stemmed from the 1999 and 2000 organisational changes and in strengthening the mandates of support and control functions. In particular, 2001 saw the strengthening of the Strategy and Planning function; the extension of the Human Resources Department’s mandate, thus taking up a more strategic role and embracing organisational development and workplace innovation; the consolidation of Internal Audit with Quality Assurance; and the establishment of the Service Call Centre. Internally, MITTS Ltd also saw how to improve its internal tools and processes in order to be more cost effective. In 2001, MITTS Ltd looked at two major corporate initiatives; - the determination of a Cost Management Accounting Framework (CMAF) and the formal establishment of a corporate Project Management methodology in accordance with international standards.
Cost Management Accounting Framework (CMAF) In November 2001, a framework and systems architecture for the implementation of a Cost Management Accounting System for MITTS Ltd was endorsed by the Board. The recommendations related to both process improvements / redesign of accounting responsibility and project management information, and the best-fit system architecture for MITTS Ltd. The proposed CMAF architecture would involve a strong cost accounting engine with a less sophisticated project management system. It is planned that in 2002, a request for proposals will be issued and adjudicated with a view of starting implementation in 2003.
Project Management Framework In 2001, a working team was appointed to review and establish a MITTS Ltd project management framework that would
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establish a corporate discipline in how projects are estimated, planned, controlled, monitored and reported. The review established that methodologies used by project managers need to be revised to embrace international IT standards, and to this effect PRINCE II was selected as the methodology that will also allow easier implementation of ISO 9000 in the Project Management Function and is in line with the recommendations of the CMAF.
Breathing Quality – an ISO 9000 Certified Organisation If MITTS Ltd wants to live up to the statement “…we are in the business of partnering with our clients for the successful attainment of their goals”, the Company has to ensure that it has the best Quality Assurance mechanisms, tools and structures that gives a guarantee to clients that they are receiving value for money and quality services. To this effect Internal Audit Unit and Quality Assurance Units were consolidated in a newly set up Internal Compliance Unit in October 2001 so as to strengthen the quality culture in the Company, whilst also ensuring that compliance to international standards are met. In 2001, the company’s audit and quality assurance efforts were focused not only on maintaining ISO standards in certified areas, but also in gearing service management functions in readiness for ISO certification in 2002. Technical audits were carried out on the ICT framework by Intelligent Networks (London) and an Information Security Strategic Audit and Plan was also initiated.
Service Call Centre (SCC) MITTS Ltd has very demanding clients, which often need rapid assistance in order to keep their services available without fail. In its efforts to respond to client needs and in order to offer a better service to its clients in the most cost effective and efficient manner possible, MITTS Ltd set up a Service Call Centre (SCC). Resourced with highly skilled technical staff, the SCC rolled out its services as a pilot to 50% of Ministries in June 2001. Through the SCC, MITTS Ltd provides first line of support over the phone or via e-mail, where 3,000 calls where handled in its first month of operations, increasing incrementally each month up to a mark of 6,000 calls by December 2001. The SCC handled 60% of all calls logged, 10% of which are resolved over the phone. SCC also had the mandate to monitor closely the Internet and e-mail service provision on a 24x7 basis in order to ensure that Internet Service Provider services are offered round the clock.
A DYNAMIC AND CONSOLIDATED ORGANISATION
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PARTNERING WITH OUR CLIENTS - TOGETHER WE ACHIEVE MORE!
Social Security: Successful Improvements since 1995
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The Sistema g˙all-Amministrazzjoni ta’ Benefiççji Soçjali (SABS) was first implemented in 1995 as the first step towards a fully integrated computer system for the Department of Social Security. The last major module to be integrated into SABS was Contributory Pensions which was implemented at the end of 2001.
can issue social benefits in a timely manner, utilising minimal human effort as opposed to the pre-95 era when the administration of all social benefits had to be done manually with extensive human effort. Today, the department has a system not only to administer social benefits, but also to easily run investigative analysis, audit trails and reports.
The introduction and subsequent improvements and additions of SABS has been instrumental for the efficient and controlled processing of social benefits. Through SABS, the Social Security Department
“The consolidation of social security systems has been on government’s agenda for the past seven years. Today, the Department of Social Security boasts a secure and integrated solution for the
MITTS LTD ANNUAL REPORT 2001
automation of social security benefits servicing the needs of more that 200,000 individuals annually. This has resulted in more accurate and timely payments as well as enhanced security, probity and resilience for the Department’s operations.” Alan Camilleri Communications Co-ordinator - Information Management Officer, Ministry for Social Policy
PARTNERING WITH OUR CLIENTS - TOGETHER WE ACHIEVE MORE!
A critical component of Government’s Change Management Programme is the attainment of e-Government. In 2001, MITTS Ltd was involved in both assisting Government in the selection process of the strategic partner for e-Government and in the roll out of the first e-Government services. These e-service initiatives have been undertaken by MITTS Ltd on behalf of CIMU and the Ministry of Justice and Local Government with the purpose of launching the delivery of information-related public services through the Internet by means of access from home and access centres such as local councils, schools and public libraries, and in preparation to the fully blown e-Government programme which should kick off with the advent of the strategic partner. MITTS Ltd has over the past years continued to consolidate its philosophy of partnering and maintaining a fruitful and healthy business relationship with its clients. MITTS Ltd believes in a collaborative approach where MITTS Ltd people and its clients are one whole, both with the common objective of delivering cost effective and added value services. The second year of the new millennium saw this approach working at its best. MITTS Ltd and the Public Service partnered together and attained remarkable achievements such as the development of the first ten e-Government services; the establishment of a Tax Compliance Unit (TCU) with all the necessary support tools using the principle of Data Warehousing; the setting up of state-of-the-art Internet Laboratories in schools; the facilitation of the administration of social benefits through Sistema g˙all-Amministrazzjoni ta’ Benefiççji Soçjali (SABS); and many more. More specifically, efforts were centred around four major streams in 2001: •
supporting the Public Service Change Management Programme;
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acting as a partner to key and strategic Public Service entities;
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assisting in the implementation of the National Plan for the Adoption of the Acquis; and
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supporting ministry and departmental initiatives.
However, the Change Management Programme is much more far reaching and involves more than e-Government on its agenda. MITTS Ltd mandate is to support the full change programme, thus also including another major initiative such as Data Protection Compliance.
A Focus on Government’s Strategic Initiatives It is important to emphasise that MITTS Ltd should view its relationship with a number of its clients not as a ‘supplier to contractor’ relationship but rather one of strategic partnership between MITTS Ltd and the respective department. In this regard, thirteen public service entities were identified as collaborative partners, including CIMU, Local Government, VAT, Inland Revenue, Education, Social Security and Health amongst others. Having a focus on Government’s strategic initiatives such as Accrual Accounting for instance meant dedicating resources to such programmes. An assessment of client relationship was conducted in 2001 in order to measure the degree of success of the partnerships. The results were very positive and encouraging, where the collaborative, arrangements per project were rated to be working well on average.
Continuous Support for a Continuous Programme Some years back, Government embarked on a Public Service Change Management Programme that was in its full swing in 2001. This change management programme is viewed by the Public Service as a continuous programme with the concept of continuous improvement in mind. MITTS Ltd has always played a pivotal role in the improvements that occurred across the Public Service, and as such, as the Public Service adopted a process of continuous improvement, MITTS Ltd geared itself to provide continuous support to this programme. MITTS LTD ANNUAL REPORT 2001
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PARTNERING WITH OUR CLIENTS - TOGETHER WE ACHIEVE MORE!
Internet in Schools: into the new technology era
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With the ever increasing use of Internet as a tool for educational research, the Information and Communications Technology Centre (ICTC) within the Education Department and MITTS Ltd embarked on the challenging project to provide Internet connectivity for all Government State Schools. The main objective of the provision of Internet in schools was to broaden students’ communication and research capabilities. In 2001 over 30 schools were connected with a planned implementation of a further 80 schools in 2002. Considerable effort was focused upon safeguarding
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children’s access to sites that are either not suitable for them or that relate to hate speech, racism, etc. Moreover, special consideration was given to safeguard MAGNET. Thus, MITTS Ltd designed an architecture that safeguarded both the children, with appropriate filtering mechanisms, and the MAGNET. The state-of-the-art technology of these IT laboratories and their value were also recognised by the eMalta Commission. Talks were initiated between the Education Division and the eMalta Commission to grant access to Local Councils to utilise the school
IT Laboratories in the evenings to enable the eMalta Commission to conduct its ICT awareness course to citizens. “ The Internet for schools project is well underway and many students are reaping the benefits of a connected classroom. E-mail and the Internet were the basis of links between students in Malta and abroad in several Comenius projects - and this is only the beginning”. Emile Vassallo - ICT Support Teacher
PARTNERING WITH OUR CLIENTS - TOGETHER WE ACHIEVE MORE!
Assisting the Implementation of the National Programme for the Adoption of the Aquis (NPAA) MITTS Ltd continues to recognise that the attainment of full membership within the EU in the next enlargement trunché is one of the most important policy initiatives of this Administration. In 2001, MITTS Ltd worked very closely with appropriate Departments and Ministries in order to obtain the required derogations for the utilisation of co-funded or directly assigned funds by the Commission. Through this close working relationship, in 2002, MITTS Ltd will be working on the following projects which are partially or fully supported through the NPAA funds:•
continued enhancements to Departmental Accounting System vis à vis the EU reporting requirements;
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initiation of the Accrual Accounting Project;
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work relating to the introduction of the Schengen Information Systems Project;
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VAT Risk Analysis, Debt Management and Platform Migration Projects;
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integrated and Administrative Control System (IACS);
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OPM EU negotiations system;
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National Statistics Office related business applications projects; and
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new VERA system.
Supporting Ministry and Departmental Initiatives Notwithstanding the focus given to service wide and Government strategic initiatives, MITTS Ltd also actively supports Ministerial and Departmental initiatives that are required to be carried out either to achieve better internal operations or to deliver specific services to the Public in a more efficient and effective way. In 2001, MITTS Ltd supported Ministries and Departments by either assisting them in articulating request for proposals in order to procure readily available systems on the market, or in designing solutions such as the Examinations Management System, the Workflow Trenching Permits System, and the Claims Handling System amongst others. 2002 will see a continuation of this support, with the planned initiative of offering project and contract management services to Ministries in order to supplement the departments where Information Management Officers(IMOs) are not yet in place and in order to consolidate the knowledge transfer approach that has always been a strong characteristic of MITTS Ltd.
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RE-ENFORCING THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FRAMEWORK
In today’s world, organisations and individuals are becoming highly dependent on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Such a dependency, which will increase exponentially in the coming years, places pressure on any ICT provider to ensure continuous service provision. MITTS Ltd, being the operator of both Government’s e-Superhighway and the Secure Government Infrastructure, continued to invest heavily in its ICT framework, both in financial and in human resources terms, so as to ensure that the clients making use of such a framework, have the confidence that the ICT services they are using will almost never fail on them. Whilst no ICT provider can assure such a fail-proof confidence level, however, MITTS Ltd has invested more than Lm 240,000 in 2001 alone, thus showing its commitment to ensure business continuity and that the ICT framework is robust and is in readiness for new service demands. However, MITTS Ltd did not stop at just ensuring currency of the existing ICT framework with technologies as they emerge. MITTS Ltd also started planning how to completely re-design Malta Government Network (MAGNET) in order to leverage new technologies to reduce the total cost of ownership of the existing ICT framework. Moreover, the investment planning philosophy of the company has shifted to the paradigm of pro-active investment in order to ensure that the ICT framework will, at any point in time, meet the expectations of its client base – which is increasing with time as the users become more IT literate.
Securing Government Information Security Management has taken a high priority in 2001, so as to ensure that MITTS Ltd and its clients are not exposed to critical situations that could bring business operations to a halt. Efforts have been directed towards 10
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ensuring that a business continuity programme is introduced and implemented. In this context, eight hot servers housed at two separate sites have been introduced in August 2001 in order to ensure operational continuity of the Departmental Accounting System (DAS); Electronic Government Mail (EGM) and the Common Database (CdB). Moreover, an Information Security Strategic Plan (ISSP) was commissioned to an international consultancy firm focusing on the Public Service as a whole, the MITTS Ltd Corporate Data Centre and the security management processes. A high level review including risk assessment and security related practices, together with a draft submission of the plan that include MAGNET security levels improvement recommendations were presented in December 2001. It is anticipated that the implementation of such a Security Strategic Plan will happen over the next three years and will be done in partnership with the Central Information Management Unit (CIMU).
Networking and Connecting Clients 2001 continued to see several infrastructural projects being carried out in order to connect further client sites to MAGNET, re-designing and extending Local Area Networks (LAN), or implementing a total solution such as in the case of the Tax Compliance Unit (TCU).
Involving the Private Sector MITTS Ltd recognises that with its capped resource capacity, it may not always be in a position to alone carry out the full programme of works of the Public Service. MITTS Ltd believes that it is both beneficial for MITTS Ltd and the Public Service to have the involvement of the Private ICT Sec-
tor. To this effect, MITTS Ltd designed two frameworks, one for outsourcing small application development and the other for outsourcing workstation support services. Both initiatives will allow MITTS Ltd to shift resources from areas that can be done by the private sector to areas that need a higher level of technical attention such as Database Administration, Core Operations and Development of Strategic Systems. The outsourcing framework for application development was designed following discussions with the IT section of the Chamber of Commerce who are supporting this initiative. On 1st September 2001, (following the introduction of the Service Call Centre), a pilot initiative in terms of assessing the provision of second level desktop support by a third party under the management control of MITTS Ltd, was launched in the Ministry for Transport and Communications (MTC). This initiative, which involves around 350 personal computers and other peripherals, encouraged MITTS Ltd to roll out more peripherals in 2002 to reach an outsourced level of 979 personal computers.
RE-ENFORCING THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FRAMEWORK
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REGULATING THE CYBER ERA - MALTA’S CYBER LAWS
In this information age, MITTS Ltd partnered with the Government of Malta to introduce cyber legislation to establish a framework enabling the good use of information processing. At the same time personal data and individual privacy has to be protected. For this reason Government appointed an inter-ministerial working group to develop and draft the necessary legislation. Forming part of this working group, MITTS Ltd participated actively in all sessions and contributed to the formulation of this compendium of legislation to regulate Electronic Commerce, Computer Misuse and Personal Data Protection.
Electronic Commerce and Computer Misuse The Electronic Commerce Act was enacted on 10th May 2001 to enable and promote the use of e-commerce, and conduct electronic transactions, whilst at the same time providing the necessary safeguards against misuse. This law recognises the validity of transactions conducted by means of electronic transactions, and gives legal effectiveness to electronic signature. Another important aspect of this law is that it gives legal equivalence between electronic and manual documents. In this context electronic contracts shall not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely on the grounds that it is in electronic form. This law also amended the Criminal Code by including provisions on computer misuse to provide safeguards against unauthorised use of computers and unauthorised access of data, and to enable that such offences be considered as criminal acts, whilst providing for penalties against computer related crimes. Representatives from MITTS Ltd sitting on the inter-ministerial committee played a role at the committee stage at the House of Representatives, by answering queries of technical nature when they arose. In this aspect MITTS Ltd assisted Members of Parliament to make any clarifications which were required during the debate.
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Data Protection and Privacy The Data Protection Act which was enacted on 14th December 2001, was the law which aroused most interest and debate because it deals with personal data. Its aim is to establish a legislative framework that protects the privacy rights and freedoms of individuals with respect to the processing of personal data. No need to mention, this law required that international research be conducted to reach the necessary balance between the need to process personal data in a business or administrative environment, with the obligation to safeguard the privacy of the individual. The role played by MITTS Ltd was crucial during this phase to team up with representatives from Government Departments to produce the desired result. In the course of drafting this law, representatives from international organisations such as the Council of Europe and the Directorate General of Internal Market of the European Commission, were invited to Malta so as to discuss this law. It was of great satisfaction for the Government of Malta and MITTS Ltd to be acknowledged that this particular legislation satisfies all statutory requirements of international legal instruments. The enactment of this law makes it possible for Malta to ratify Convention 108 of the Council of Europe for the protection of individuals with regard to the automatic processing of personal data. Once this legislation is implemented, Malta will achieve data protection adequacy. This ambitious milestone will remove all barriers which may eventually exist for the free movement of goods and services within the European Economic Area, and no extra safeguards will be required, thus eliminating any expenses which may be incurred by Maltese traders. On the other hand, the data subject enjoys rights to ensure that his / her personal data is being processed with appropriate safeguards, providing the necessary privacy expected by the individual.
CHAMPIONING THE INFORMATION SOCIETY AND INFORMATION ECONOMY
MITTS Ltd always believed that being a key contributor to the inculcation of Information Technology in Malta, it has an obligation to champion the strengthening of Malta’s Information Society and Information Economy. Being a champion in this field means that MITTS Ltd set itself obligations that truly reflect its belief. Championing the Information Society and Information Economy goes far beyond that of assisting Government achieve its change initiatives in order to offer more efficient and effective services. It goes deep into the roots of how to effectively influence our society and economy in readiness for the e-era and in trying to ensure that the Malta’s Information Society and Economy should truly be an inclusive one.
Accessibility to Information Technology with Inclusivity as an Aim In September 2001, MITTS Ltd in partnership with the Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b’DiΩabilita’ (KNPD) established the “MITTS Ltd Foundation for IT Accessibility” (FITA) for the disabled. Through this foundation MITTS Ltd and KNPD are offering the opportunity for persons with disabilities to be exposed to ICT and how IT can be used as an effective tool to increase their quality of life and the possibility of career opportunities in ICT. MITTS Ltd has also assisted in the seed funding of FITA and in the communication efforts of FITA by collaborating in KNPD’s national conference on ICT access for the disabled in September 2001.
ICT Skills Capacity Building for a Bright Future
States. MITTS Ltd recognised such a problem and focused efforts in order to assist Educational Institutions attract more students to ICT and offer students with the relevant industry exposure required in order to have a stronger ICT workforce in the coming years. In this regard, MITTS Ltd, through the Swatar Training Centre, and in collaboration with the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC), continued to offer NCC (UK) diploma courses and introduced the higher diploma courses that are being offered in ETC’s training scheme. However, the major milestone in 2001 with respect to the attainment of an equilibrium between the supply and demand of the ICT labour market was the establishment of an Industry to Academia Partnership with the Board of IT Studies of the University of Malta. Through the Industry to Academia Partnership that was signed in May 2001, MITTS Ltd and the University of Malta teamed up to achieve the common goal of inculcating an Information Society and Economy. Agreements have been reached to initiate on joint research and development initiatives and in supporting University both financially and technically by assisting in the assessment of IT project dissertations and in the subscription to ACM journals. The agreement also saw the placement of twenty-five first year University students with MITTS Ltd for the summer period in order to offer students with the exposure necessary for them to reconcile theory with practice. Six of these students where offered by MITTS Ltd an undergraduate traineeship contract throughout the duration of their course.
Whoever is in the ICT industry would immediately pinpoint that the major problem the industry is currently facing is the shortage of ICT skills in the ICT Labour Market. This problem is not only particular to Malta, but is also reflected in other advanced economies such as Germany and the United
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A CARING ORGANISATION
Since its inception, MITTS Ltd always believed in the principle of caring for its people and in fostering family friendly policies that instil a sense of consideration and belonging in its workforce and their families. Apart from the ‘traditional’ caring initiatives such as health and life schemes and the child care reimbursement scheme, the company also focused on a new initiative that would allow for the attainment of a work-life balance to its people. MITTS Ltd assessed how to make a better use of technology in order to allow its people have such a balance. In this regard, Teleworking was thus introduced as a pilot in mid 2001, whereby seven employees where given the opportunity to work in an innovative and flexible manner by giving them fast and secure access to office resources from home. Through this teleworking arrangement, MITTS Ltd people finally had the opportunity to synchronise their family schedule with work requirements, whereby our people could cope more easily with the demanding dual role of being a parent and MITTS Ltd employee. The pilot
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proved to be a success both from the human side and from the performance aspect, and will be offered to more employees in 2002. Further ‘caring’ services specifically related to health care were introduced in 2001, whereby awareness sessions on breast cancer, nutrition and work related stress were carried out in conjunction with eye-sight VDU testing and onsite bi-weekly medical services. 2001 also saw the organisation of the MITTS Ltd Day, an annual family fun games event aimed at re-enforcing an atmosphere of teamwork and fun within MITTS Ltd. Through the MITTS Ltd Day, the company dedicates a day to their employees and its families as a sign of recognition of their hard work and loyalty and as a reflection of a work environment that is young, energetic and dedicated, thus promoting the company’s efforts in placing its employees at the heart of its institutional fabric.
A CARING ORGANISATION
MITTS Teleworking: A breakthrough in flexible working in Malta
The MITTS Ltd pilot teleworking framework was not only a success in its own right whereby both the Company and the its people acknowledged its value, but was also recognised as a breakthrough in alternative work practices by the local press and media. In particular, the Sunday Circle gave ample exposure to MITTS Ltd Teleworking with its front page article ‘Telework, the Way of the Future?’ whilst it was also screened in a local television production, namely e-zone.
Interviews with MITTS Ltd teleworkers also give a clear picture of the success and value of teleworking where Sylvia Bugeja, Data Base Administrator, was quoted to say: “I like my job but I love my family…this opportunity has helped me balance my work and family responsibilities” Positive comments of Joseph Spiteri, an IT Consultant were also quoted in the Sunday Circle where Mr Spiteri said, “I took this opportu-
nity because I wanted to be more involved in the upbringing of my son… I can be there when he’s awake, and I can work when he’s asleep.” The successful results of the 2001 pilot encouraged MITTS Ltd to take Teleworking two steps further – that of launching it as an official familyfriendly framework in 2002 and that of possibly extending it as a service to the Public Service.
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PLACING KNOWLEDGE AT THE HEART OF MITTS LTD
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PLACING KNOWLEDGE AT THE HEART OF MITTS LTD
Being a service delivery organisation based on skills capacity, places critical importance on the assurance that MITTS Ltd has the right skills capacity to implement its strategies and programme of works. In 2001, a key aspect of the Company’s Human Resources Strategy was directed towards placing knowledge at the heart of the organisation by ensuring that its skills set is consolidated and strengthened in the most costeffective manner possible and in line with future demands and anticipated new technologies. The emphasis in 2001 was placed on developing ICT and e-related skills further so as to ensure that MITTS Ltd has the skills capacity to deliver the best solutions to its clients for both 2001 and 2002. With a training schedule of approximately 2100 training days and 169 conference days, the company reached a record seven training day mark per employee. Where possible, specific attention was directed towards accredited courses. This strategy ensured that MITTS Ltd staff where benefiting to the fullest from the Company’s Human Resource Development Programme, whilst also allowing them to hold a formal proof of their training efforts. In particular, MITTS Ltd carried out major human resource development initiatives in Web Development Technologies (HTML, XML and JAVA), CISCO Networking where all the twelve employees obtained accreditation, Software Testing, Datawarehousing and Microsoft 2000 Certification. Just these four training areas targeted one hundred fifty people, that is half of the MITTS Ltd complement.
More training was also directed towards other technical areas and towards management / soft skills such as Project Management, Service Management (using the accredited ITIL course), and customer care. 2001, however did not only see Human Resource Development (HRD) Planning efforts directed towards the short to medium short term as MITTS Ltd embraces an approach of planning ahead and aligning any HR Development Plans to the Corporate Strategy. Thus, the medium to long-term picture was also taken into account in 2001 with the introduction of various HRD planning systems such the articulation of a Skills Dictionary, the Training Needs Analysis Process (TNA), the development of a Resource Capacity Model, and the articulation of a detailed two year Training Plan.
Teambuilding for Knowledge Sharing and Better Results An organisation such as MITTS Ltd is not only composed of individuals or structured in Departments but is in essence a team that strives for a common aim. MITTS Ltd believes that an important element in achieving knowledge and skills building and sharing is through having a team culture. To this effect, a continuation of the team building programme launched in 2000 also proceeded in 2001 with all middle management attending three day teambuilding sessions. The plan is that in 2002 and 2003, all MITTS Ltd people will be attending the teambuilding programme which will be both intra and inter departmental.
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ANTICIPATING THE FUTURE
MITTS Ltd plays a crucial role in the Government’s exercise of the overall responsibility for promoting business efficiency and value for money – specifically in the effective and efficient economic development and use of information systems supporting Government departments. The company’s stance towards Government departments conforms to Government’s overall strategy for the Public Service: to encourage a culture of delegation, accountability and full ownership of delivered systems. New challenges and opportunities are thus facing the organisation. MITTS Ltd must continuously revalidate where
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MITTS LTD ANNUAL REPORT 2001
it is going and calibrate as appropriate in terms of external factors. In ensuring that the Company is geared to meet this direction, MITTS Ltd must also be ready to support the e-Government initiative by ensuring that all back-end and legacy systems are in readiness to integrate with any front end e-application. MITTS Ltd however cannot be solely focused on e-Government as the public service has already a considerable number of critical systems in place or in the pipeline, and thus MITTS Ltd must ensure that Government’s business continuity is assured. As the core IT Agency for Government, MITTS Ltd will be looking closely at its
scope and focus on the Public Service requirements especially in terms of project delivery in strategic business areas, the management of the secure MAGNET and related Electronic Communication (ISP) services; Contract and Project Management of Projects on a Client Demand Basis; and, Information Risk Management and Security Management. MITTS Ltd must handle this transition in a manner that it does not compromise existing commitments yet allows for the necessary functional and skills transformation required to adopt its mandate.
Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd Gattard House National Road Blata l-Bajda HMR02 Tel: (+356) 21 234710 Fax: (+356) 21 234701 E-mail: mitts@mitts.gov.mt Website: www.mitts.gov.mt