comes in line with achieving the vision
of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and
Vice-President of the UAE and Ruler of
Dubai, when he said, “The future govern-
ment would never sleep; it would work
around the clock, would be hospitable like
hotels, fast in its transactions, and strong
in its procedures. The future government
will be creative, responsive to change, in-
novative in its solutions for all challenges,
would facilitate people’s lives and grant
them happiness.”
The Centre seeks to contribute to the tran-
sition toward mServices and applications,
believing that creativity is of paramount
importance. It also seeks to build and en-
able national support and develop creativ-
ity and apply cutting-edge technologies to
develop and test applications.
The services offered by the Centre are
summarized in four main points: consul-
tation, technical training, mGovernment
applications test lab, and the Innovation
Centre.
How are the applications tested in
the Centre?
We are currently in the process of setting
our own UAE standards, which should be
met in all applications before being ap-
proved to join the mGovernment store.
Such standards are related to the applica-
tion’s endurance as well as security and
functions.
The Centre provides the service of testing
mobile apps for security to ensure they
do not contain any gaps that can be used
by hackers. It is known that the degree
of security in apps depends greatly upon
the developer or programmer who should
set the necessary precautionary steps to
combat any breaching attempt.
Security is highly important, especially
that smartphones have become like com-
puters, so even the smallest gap could
be used by hackers. Since mobile apps
include sensitive information about the
mGovernment and users, we put the ap-
plications under meticulous tests to avoid
any mistake that may lead to disaster.
Finally, the Centre issues reports to gov-
ernment entities for their feedback and
later develops or adds new features, or
increases security measures to keep the
application away from the reach of hack-
ers.
We also test endurance to ensure the
number of users the application may en-
dure. For instance, does the application
function properly with 10,000 plus users?
The number is determined by the applica-
tion developer.
Moreover, the test also examines the func-
tions to ensure that all the features work
properly. For instance, does the menu tab
open fast by clicking on it? The mecha-
nism of this test depends on the applica-
tion itself as there are some applications
to access information and others for pay-
ment. The Centre also offers training ser-
vices through workshops for smartphone
programming for Blackberry, Apple, An-
droid or Microsoft.
What is the objective of these work
-
shops?
To reinforce the entrepreneurship culture,
encourage young application developers
to start their own businesses and get them
in touch with latest developments. Such
workshops act as a platform to give young
developers the opportunity to showcase
their talents and urge them to present cre-
11
February
2014
