Clients Service Charter

Made in Oman is keen to provide high quality services, so that the clients will receive a featured and fair service.

Our commitments

• We take good care of your applications/requests, and we shall spare no effort to meet these applications/requests with great interest and transparency.
• We are working to facilitate the service delivery procedures in order to ensure their timely completion.
• We inform you, beforehand, about the documents and time required to complete each application or transaction.
• We keep you informed of any amendment which might be needed to complete your transaction or application.
• We deliver our services through a qualified team of staff.
• We provide you with accurate information and ensure that appropriate procedures are in place.
• We maintain the confidentiality of the information provided.
• We welcome your views and suggestions so that we can all work together to develop our services.

Our expectations

We expect from our clients to:
• Appreciate the efforts of the staff after serving them and responding to their inquiries.
• Submit all required documents.
• Provide all information needed within the specified time.
• Inform us, immediately, of any update or changes in the data of the application.
• Provide opinions or feedback objectively, if unsatisfied, on any service delivery mechanism or its completion time.
Fair assessment enables us to uplift our services

Website Policy
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e-Accessibility Policy

Policy Area
 e-Accessibility
Policy Title
 e-Accessibility Policy

Purpose
To provide fair and equal life opportunities to persons with disabilities and the elderly people through the use of information & communication technologies (ICT). Inclusion of this minority section of the public in life opportunities is critical in discharging the government’s social and economic responsibilities.

Definitions

• e-Accessibility – is the extent to which an ICT-based product, tool, information or service can be used by persons with disabilities and the elderly people as effectively as it can be used by a person without disability.
• Disability – refers to one or more human limitations resulting in interaction barriers either between person-and-person, or person and ICT product, tool & service. These human limitations, which are caused by natural circumstances, accidents, illnesses or environmental factors, can be physical, mental, sensory, psychosocial and neurological.
• Elderly People – due to normal aging process, a person who is at least 55 years old and has reduced functional capability in normal interaction with an ICT device.
• Assistive-ICT – is an innovative method or technology that aids, improves or increases the functional capabilities of persons with disability and the elderly people in using ICT. Assistive-ICT can be in various forms such as hardware, software, firmware or a combination of these forms.
• ICT-based Public Equipment – is an ICT-based product or tool that is physically placed in a public area. Examples are electronic kiosk, terminal and automated teller machine (ATM).
• Information – refers to set or sets of logical / related data in electronic form. Information can be accessed, stored and presented in various media such as text, graphics, voice and multimedia.
• e-Services – are electronic services provided to the public. These services are typically accessed via mobile phones or computers.
• Government Agency – is an organization or unit that has governing functions and exercises authority; it has direct responsibility or accountability to the public. Examples of government agencies are ministries, councils, authorities and municipalities.

Outcome
With the aid of ICT, persons with disabilities and the elderly people can lead better, efficient and more independent lifestyles. There will be fair and equal opportunities for persons with disabilities and the elderly people in all aspects of life such as – but not limiting to – learning and education, employment, government interaction, play, travel and socialize.

Scope

• This policy addresses two major components of e-accessibility:
o Use of ICT device (such as computer and mobile phone).
o Access via electronic means to data, information, e-services and applications.

• Persons with disabilities and the elderly people must be able to use ICT device effectively, and that data, information & applications can be accessed in the various forms suited best for these people.

• This policy includes the use of assistive-ICT products and tools, in accommodating the use of ICT devices to aid persons with disabilities and the elderly people.

• Physical accessibility is not covered under this policy.

Policy Statement

1. Government agencies and government-owned companies shall ensure that public information and e-services are accessible by persons with disabilities and the elderly people.
2. Government agencies and government-owned companies shall ensure that ICT- based public equipment is fully accessible to persons with disabilities and the elderly people.
3. Government agencies and government-owned companies shall ensure that internal information and applications shall be made accessible to employees who are disabled and the elderly employees.
4. Government agencies shall initiate and lead to explore and implement the use of ICT to fully accommodate to persons with disabilities and the elderly people within their respective lines of businesses.
5. Government agencies with regulatory functions – such as but not limited to banking, education, employment, telecommunications and transportation – shall ensure that their specific e-accessibility rules and regulations are adhered by government and private entities bounded within their regulatory functions.

Exemptions (If any)
For national security reasons, this policy may not be applicable to government functions that are related to national defense or national security.

Standards Compliance Requirements

1. Websites and e-services shall comply with World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.
2. New ICT-based public equipment shall be made accessible by persons with disabilities and the elderly people.
3. Employees with disabilities and elderly employees shall attend the required training program on the relevant use of assistive-ICT products and tools.

Others

Best Practices
• Requirements for both the majority and the minority sections of the public have to be taken into consideration in the development and implementation of public information, e-services, and ICT-based public equipment.
• Involve the process of designing and testing of websites, e-services and ICT-based public equipment by persons with disabilities, in particular the blind, deaf and mobility.

Checklists
• Nil.

References
Please, refer to:
• ITA website www.ita.gov.om for related information on e- accessibility.
• Ministry of Social Development website http://www.mosd.gov.om/ for information and initiatives on general accessibility.
• W3C website http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ for details on WCAG 2.0.
• G3ICT website http://www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org/ for details on e-accessibility and assistive-ICT.
• International Telecommunications Union http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/sis/PwDs/index.phtml for details on development for e-accessibility in the telecommunications sector.
• DA Design Standards http://www.ada.gov/2010ADAstandards_index.htm for ICT-based public equipment.
• Universal Design http://www.universaldesign.com to improve e-accessibility designs

• e-Participation Policy
Vision
Made in Oman Portal, the Official, national platform that contributes to enhancing the national economy and the local added value of Omani products, elevating understanding, awareness, loyalty, and pride in national products. This, in turn, promotes competitiveness and sustainability for the local industrial sector. This will enable members of the community to electronically contact us, offer their feedback, or make comments or suggestions.
Objective
Our main objective is to establish a process for listening and talking to users and to respond to their feedback, complaints and suggestions.
Pledge
Our pledge to you as users is that we will listen and respond to your comments or suggestions, but only when those comments are directed at specific services, facilities or policies related to the Portal. Furthermore, we will acknowledge your input and reply to you with a carefully considered answer. From you, it is expected that you shall behave responsibly and not make comments which are irrelevant to the context of the Portal or are inappropriate according to Oman’s culture, as these will be removed immediately from view and excluded from consideration. For any queries unrelated to the Portal context, we will direct you to the appropriate authority who can best answer your question.
Facilities for online participation
Made in OmanPortal, the Official Business Registry Portal of the Sultanate of Oman currently provides the following facilities for online participation:
• Social networking:
• User satisfaction surveys: Can be filled out and submitted at any time, at your leisure.
• Contact us’ facility: Found at the e-participation section on the main menu on Portal, you can leave your comments and suggestions and feedback.
• Call center number 80000070: Can be used to contact the Portal’s call center if you have a problem with a specific service.
• RSS – Subscription feature for getting updates from the portal automatically into RSS readers or web-browser.
• Poll – Seek visitor’s opinion about an issue of concern and aggregate the responses to see what most people agreed upon.
• Survey – Get public views for surveys launched online by the Information Technology Authority of other government organizations.
We are always looking for ways to improve online participation. For example we are presently examining the use of RSS, polls and online discussion forums, in addition to social networking. Any suggestions you have will be most welcome. In addition to the above:
• Your feedback, both complaints and suggestions will be securely filed in our systems and our team will keenly study what you send us.
• Your inputs and requests will be forwarded to the concerned people for suitable action.
• We analyze and archive all feedback that we receive from you and publish the most commonly asked questions, along with our responses in our FAQ section.
• Alternatively, you can reach us for any further information through our call center

• e-Transformation Policy
The adoption of the Digital Oman Strategy in March 2003 was one of the steps towards achieving the vision of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, - may God rest his soul in peace, to transform the Sultanate of Oman into a knowledge-based economy. The strategy describes the key aspects of developing the Sultanate of Oman into a digital society and the implementation of eGovernment.
In his address to Oman Council in November 2008, His Majesty stressed: “We have always emphasized the importance of learning and knowledge and we have always been open to the adoption of new developments in this field. Information and communication technology have now become the main elements that move forward the development process in this third millennium; therefore, we have accorded our attention to finding a national strategy to develop the skills and abilities of citizens in this domain with the aim of further developing eGovernment services. We are closely following the important steps that we have made in this regard. We call upon on all government institutions to speedily enhance their performance, and to facilitate their services, by applying digital technology in order to usher the Sultanate into the constantly evolving spheres for applying knowledge”.
The Cabinet of Ministers has also stressed repeatedly on the importance of eGovernment transformation. In its meeting no. 8/2012 dated on February 28, 2012, the Cabinet focused on the evaluation of the ministries and government entities’ ability to provide services electronically and enabling them to start implementing the eGovernment Transformation Plan.
Based on these strategic directions to achieve eGovernment, the Information Technology Authority (ITA) has developed the eGovernment Transformation Plan and the corresponding set of eGovernment Transformation Policies that the Cabinet of Ministers has approved in June 2012. All government entities shall comply with the eGovernment Transformation Policies as they implement the various stages and targets defined in the eGovernment Transformation Plan.
The eGovernment Transformation Policies cover four (4) areas as described below.
First: Government Information and Data

• The government entities shall avoid information or data duplication and redundancy. In coordination with other government entities, ITA shall seek integration of information and data through specialized agency responsible for keeping the information and data by major data type and classification. The specialized agency or agencies shall ensure non-repetition, non-duplication and no conflict of information or data from multiple sources, and to have a backup copy of all information and data.
• The government entities shall manage databases and its data, provide access to shared data electronically to the other beneficiary government entities to enable the integration of data among government entities, and facilitate the delivery of government services electronically.
• Each government entity shall rely on the electronically available information and data of relevant authorities, and reduce the information and data provided in the e-Forms and other modes of government services, and not to request information or data from the applicants of eGovernment services, except in rare cases when such information is required in order to deliver the service to the users.
Second: Government Services

Each government entity within six months from the issue date of these policies shall:
• List all services, including the pre-requisites or conditions to obtain these services; and to transform related manual forms into electronic form.
• Document business processes related to each service.
• Re-engineer business processes (identified above) with the aim to implement quality eServices, and to continuously improve these business processes so as to meet the ever-increasing demands of the public.
Third: Government e-Transactions
• The government entities shall adopt ICT applications in the performance of all its internal services and processes.
• The government entities shall use e-mail and electronic means of communication in their work.
• The government entities shall develop a detailed plan for the transformation into eGovernment and begin its implementation within six months from the issue date of this decision.
• The government entities shall appoint an internal committee within six months from the issue date of this decision to be responsible for all the government eServices in their entity. The committee shall be headed by the head of that entity, with the membership of the heads of each department concerned with the eGovernment, the head of IT Department, Administrative Development Department and the head of the Customer Services Department. The main task of the committee is to supervise and review the implementation of the eGovernment Transformation Plan of its entity, as well as coordinating with ITA.
• In the implementation of IT projects and eGovernment, the government entities shall comply with the Oman eGovernment Architecture Framework (OeGAF), which was developed by ITA in cooperation with other government entities.
Fourth: Indicators and Measurement

The government entities shall fill in the assessment form to measure the progress made towards eGovernment transformation annually according to the indicators set by ITA. These indicators shall be included in the annual report of the entity, and copies shall be sent to ITA which shall annually supervise the preparation and implementation of the assessment.
• ITA shall submit a general annual report to the Cabinet that shows the transformation progress of each government entity into eGovernment according to the above mentioned indicators.
• ITA shall issue all the important instructions to the government entities according to the eGovernment Transformation Policies, and in conformity with the relevant regulations.

• Government Open Data Policy
Introduction
His Majesty’s grand vision of transforming Oman into a sustainable knowledge based economy began with setting the economic vision for the Sultanate towards the year 2020 to which the Digital Oman Strategy, endorsed in March 2003, contributes in terms of developing the Oman Digital Society and e-Government.
E-Government refers to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a tool to achieve more efficient government processes, higher quality of public services, and higher citizen engagement. As government agencies transform their process and public services into e-services, they produce, maintain and update huge amount of data electronically. The term ‘Open Data’ describes the concept that this data should be made available for public to access, reuse, and redistribute without any restrictions.
Open Data policy provides the basis for public participation and collaboration in the creation of innovative, value-added services.
What is Open Government Data?
Open Data is data that can be accessed, reused, and redistributed by anyone, for any purposes, including commercial reuse, free of charge and without any restrictions. Open Data refers to datasets that are held in government databases.
Dimensions of Open Government Data
Government agencies such as ministries, municipalities, and other government authorities produce, maintain and update huge amounts of data. Some examples of data include:
• National statistics,
• Budgetary information,
• Geographical data,
• Laws and Regulations, and
• Data about education and transport.
Most of this data could become Open Data.
Exceptions
There are some kinds of government data which cannot be treated as open data. Exceptions are as under:
• Personal data, that is, data which contain information about specific individual.
• Government data which is classified as sensitive. For example, for reasons of national security.
[Reference: For Information (data) classification scheme, refer to Royal Decree 118/2011 and 42/2015]Purpose
Establishing a culture of open data, and applying the right policy settings from when data is first generated or collected, has been shown to deliver benefits to communities and economies across the globe.
The e-Oman Strategy demands and prioritizes open data; and this Policy aims to assist government agencies across the Sultanate of Oman in embedding open data principles in their operations.
The purpose of this Policy is to:
• Make explicit the Sultanate of Oman Government’s commitment to open data;
• Help agencies in understanding community and industry priorities for open data;
• Simplify and facilitate the release of data by Government agencies in Sultanate of Oman;
• Create a practical policy framework that enables high-value datasets to be released to the public;
• To define principles of open data to promote information based culture;
• To increase opportunities for this raw data being used creatively to build innovative applications with a positive economic and social benefit to the public.
This Policy helps facilitate implementation of best practice open data principles across the public sector in the Sultanate of Oman.

Scope of Applicability
This Policy applies to all Government Agencies and Statutory Bodies in Sultanate of Oman.
Target audiences for the policy itself include government agencies, NGOs, academia, industry (including ICT developers) and members of the public who are interested in or have a specific use for government data.
Policy
Policy Statements
We are working to make sure that all government agencies in Sultanate of Oman commit to releasing high value government data (open data) actively to increase opportunities for this raw data being used creatively to build innovative applications with a positive economic and social benefit to the public. Agencies are required to release open data in accordance with the principles set forth in this policy.
Government Agencies are required to create and maintain Data Inventory that accounts for all data assets created or collected by the agency. This includes, but is not limited to, data assets used in the agency’s information systems. After creating the Inventory, agencies should continually improve the usefulness of the Inventory by expanding, enriching, and opening the Inventory.
It is the policy of Government of Sultanate of Oman that government agencies must publish their open data for public use on their websites (should be .om domain), or, on National Data Portal (www.data.gov.om), or on both locations.
Agencies should also establish a process or platform for the public to request certain datasets from the Data Inventory to be published as open data. Agencies should perform due diligence while responding to such requests to publish datasets as open data.
Principles
The principles by which open data will be governed, managed and operated are:
• Complete: Datasets released by the government should be as complete as possible, reflecting the entirety of what is recorded about a particular subject. All raw information from a dataset should be released to the public, except to the extent necessary to comply with valid privacy or security requirements regarding the release of personally identifiable information. Metadata that defines and explains the raw data should be included as well, along with formulas and explanations for how derived data was calculated. Doing so will permit users to understand the scope of information available and examine each data item at the greatest possible level of detail.
• Primary: Datasets released by the government should be primary source data, with the highest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.
• Timely: Datasets released by the government agencies should be available to the public in a timely fashion (at least on annual basis). Whenever feasible, information collected by the government should be released as quickly as it is gathered and collected. Priority should be given to data whose utility is time sensitive. Real-time information updates would maximize the utility the public can obtain from this information.
• Permanent: Datasets are available permanently (information made available should remain available) with appropriate version tracking and archiving over time. There should be proper indication that an alteration has been made. (Refer to data retention as per archive law – Royal Decree 60/2007)
• Accessible: Datasets released by the government should be accessible (ability to locate and download content) easily. Providing an interface for users to download all of the information stored in a database at once (known as “bulk” access) and the means to make specific calls for data through an Application Programming Interface (API) make data much more readily accessible.
• Machine process-able: Datasets should be reasonably structured to allow automated processing and available in machine friendly formats. Information shared in the widely used PDF format, for example, is very difficult for machines to parse. Thus, information should be stored in widely used file formats (CSV, XLS, JSON, XML, etc.) that easily lend themselves to machine processing. These files should be accompanied by documentation related to the format and how to use it in relation to the data.
• Trusted: Published content should be digitally signed or include attestation of publication/creation date, authenticity, and integrity. Digital signatures help the public validate the source of the data they find so that they can trust that the data has not been modified since it was published.
• Documented: Documentation about the data sets, format and meaning of data goes a long way to making the data useful. The principles state that Government websites must provide users with sufficient information to make assessments about the meaning, accuracy and currency of information published.
• Non-discriminatory: Datasets are available to anyone, at any time without having to identify themselves (with no requirement of registration) or provide any justification for accessing open datasets.
• Non-proprietary: Datasets are available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control (data can be accessed without the need for a software license).
• License-free: Datasets are available with no restrictions on dissemination and are not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Maximal openness includes clearly labeling public information as a work of the government and available without restrictions on use as part of the public domain. Government agencies use Open Data licenses to clearly explain the conditions under which their data may be used. Examples include: Creative Commons, the Open Database License, and The World Bank Terms of Use.
Note 1: These principles describe what open data looks like when it meets best practice requirements.
Note 2: Resourcing implications can affect an agency’s ability to fully implement every principle with respect to all datasets, and so high-value datasets should be identified as the priority for standardization and release first.
Note 3: These principles are defined in UN Guidelines on Open Government Data
Roles and Responsibilities
• Policy Management.
• Creation and maintenance of this Open Data Policy is vested with the Information Technology Authority (ITA).
• NCSI has the overall responsibility for facilitating the implementation of the Open Data Policy and providing advice and guidance to all government agencies, and target audience. (refer to Royal Decree 40/2014 establishing NCSI)
Policy Implementation
All government agencies and target audience are responsible for implementing, complying and reporting improvements in Data Sharing arrangements in relation to this policy.
Agency Actions and Reporting Requirements Target Date
• Nominate Point Of Contact and clarify/establish roles and responsibilities for overall data management, as well as promoting efficient and effective release of OGD. 3 months after the Publication of Policy.
• Develop Data Publication Process.
 Create a process to engage with customers to help facilitate and prioritize data release.
 Establish Customer Feedback Mechanism.
 Describe Customer Feedback Processes on the OGD portal.
 Establish a process for interested parties to request Open Data.
3 months after the Publication of Policy.
• Create and maintain a Data Inventory (Inventory).
 Develop an Inventory Schedule.
 Publish Inventory Schedule on the OGD portal.
 Create a Data Inventory.
 Maintain the Data Inventory: Expand, Enrich, Open. 6 months after the Publication of Policy.
• Create and maintain Open Data Listing.
 Create and publish Open Data Listing at the OGD portal.
 Maintain the Open Data Listing. 9 months after the Publication of Policy.
• Document if data cannot be released. 12 months after the Publication of Policy.
Related References
Following documents/links may be relevant to this policy.
• Royal Decree 40/2014 establishing NCSI.
• Royal Decree 60/2007 – Archive law for data retention.
• Royal Decree 118/2011 and 42/2015 Information Classification Scheme
• World Bank Guidelines for Open Data https://data.worldbank.org/ogd
• UN Guidelines for Open Data http://www.unpan.org
• Open Knowledge Foundation https://okfn.org
• Sunlight Foundation http://sunlightfoundation.com

• Social Media Adoption Guidelines
Introduction
In line with the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos in April 2011, to develop communication channels between government institutions and citizens, and in line with the e-Oman strategy in implementing the eGovernment vision, the Information Technology Authority (ITA) has prepared the E-Participation Guidelines for Using Social Media in Government. These Guidelines are to be used by all government entities in Oman, as guidance in implementing modern social media technologies in communicating with citizens. The channels and tools are simple, easy to use, and cost effective and use the latest of technologies, resulting in better documentation of databases, easy access and more transparent dialogue.

ITA is taking the leadership to advise and train all government entities in the use and implementation of social media in Oman.

What is Social Media?
Social media is a set of online technologies, sites and practices which are used to share opinions, experiences and perspectives. Fundamentally it is about conversation.

Social media is different from traditional media — such as print, TV and radio – as it is not a broadcast medium.

Social media is a dialogue that happens between Government and its citizens. This means that the level of control assumed from traditional media is replaced with a deeper level of engagement with the public. The main benefit of social media for governments is that well-considered and carefully implemented social media can create greater transparency, an interactive relationship with the public, a stronger sense of ownership of government policy and services, and thus a greater public trust in government.

The potential uses of social media are wide and varied. The Government can use social media to raise awareness of certain issues, build credibility with specific audience groups, engage Oman in policy consultation, or serve as an internal communications tool to improve collaboration between government agencies or within a single agency.

Core Social Media Tools
The five core social media tools are:

• Social networks – A term often used to refer to the websites used to connect and interact with other individuals. Interaction is often informal and entirely web-based. Examples include Facebook and Twitter.

• Media-sharing networks – Websites that allow users to share video and images. They also allow users to comment on their own media and the media uploaded by users. Examples include YouTube and Flickr.
• Blogs – Short for weblog. A blog is a content-managed website that presents its entries in reverse chronological order and allows visitors to comment. Blogger and WordPress are examples of popular blogging tools.
• Wikis – Web-based applications which allow users to add content to or edit a web page. The most popular example is Wikipedia.
• Forums – Online applications for holding themed discussions between groups of participants.
Benefit and Risk Analysis
As with any communication channel, there are benefits and risks to using social media. Before your organization actually starts using the tools, it is important to assess these benefits and risks adequately.
Benefits:
Social media can bring a variety of benefits in supporting government communications and wider objectives, including:
• Increase audience reach and improve the accessibility of Government communication;
• Reflect the communication channel preferences of Omanis;
• Meet public expectations of modern service organizations and enhance reputation;
• Promote transparency in Government;
• Support more involved relationships with citizens, partners and other stakeholders;
• Enhance Government response to quickly adjust or refocus communications;
• Improve the long-term cost-effectiveness of communication;
• Benefit from the credibility of non-government channels;
• Increase the speed of public feedback and input;
• Reach specific audiences on specific issues;
• Reduce dependence on media and counter inaccurate press coverage;
• Lead Omanis directly to online transactional services; and,
• Create and develop content written by citizens.
Risks:
Because social media is an evolving area of government engagement, there are risks. These can be cultural, technical or reputational and must be factored into planning. But they should not dissuade you from using social media. Over time, as experience build and case studies provide us with precedents, risk will be more easily identified and reduced.
Risks in using social media include:
• Government activity in some social media websites and forums may not be welcome
• A post by government employees may be inaccurate or inappropriate, creating legal or reputational risk
• Some sites may be open to manipulation by interest groups or those with malicious intent
• User generated content may be difficult to check for accuracy
• Negative impact on a community when a public figure has to pull out of a debate
• Greater resource requirements that expected
• Comments may unintentionally inflame a situation There are appropriate mitigations for these risks.
Before you start
Would your agency pay for a radio advertisement without thinking about what the goal of the advertisement was? Would you commit to writing a monthly newsletter without determining your audience, key messages, and a list of possible topics? Of course not.
Radio and newsletters are channels for communication, just as social media is. Before embarking on a social media project you need to consider things such as:
• Your goals and objectives
• Your target audience(s)
• The benefits, risks and mitigations for those risks
• The ongoing resources required
• Your measure for success.
Of course, if you are targeting pensioners on a fixed income, you are less likely to have an effect with social networking than if you are targeting teens. Social networking may be fashionable but it is not the best communications channel in every instance or for every audience.
Resourcing
Resource planning for social media is especially important. Blogs that haven’t been updated in months can make your agency look incompetent and disorganized. The same can be said of Facebook and Twitter accounts that don’t get updated.
Social networking is not a ‘quick win’. It takes time to build a community. You’re in for the long haul, and resource commitments need to reflect this.
Forums that debate specific policies, however, may be time-specific. Resource planning should take that into account.
When calculating resources, be sure to consider the need to publicize your social media investment.
Promotion work can be done by adding links from your corporate website, doing marketing campaigns, or simply leaving comments in forums and blogs with links back to your social media profile. However, you decide to publicize, there will be resource implications.
Resources may also be needed to create back-ups, transcripts, and other records of social media activity.
Learning the Ropes
One of the best ways for staff to learn how to use social media is to start off using it themselves. Setting up their own personal Facebook or Twitter profile or starting up a personal blog in their own time will help them to learn the ropes with minimal risks, and without the added weight that comes with representing the agency in a professional manner. Once staff have ‘learned the ropes’ they will be better prepared to start using social media professionally.
Staff should only engage in social media on behalf of the agency if they have received the authority and, where necessary, training to do so. See ‘Codes of Conduct‘.
Trusting Staff
Social media tools require quick responses and direct communication with stakeholders, often in real or near- real time. Successful social media projects are ones where delegated staff are trusted, after proper training, to understand and manage the risks around release of information. If information needs further verification or is potentially contentious, staff need to be trusted to escalate as appropriate – and those escalation paths must be quick and efficient.
Nothing kills the effectiveness of a social media project more quickly than slow response times where each and every statement or ‘tweet’ needs to go up the chain of command to be approved before publication.
Passive, Active, Engaged
There is a spectrum of involvement in social media. Your organization doesn’t have to jump in boots and all on the first day. You can start with a passive involvement and move through to becoming more active and finally fully engaged with the audiences you have identified.
Passive
One of the first things your organization can do in social media is simply to listen. What’s being said about you?
Social media monitoring tools can help you discover what’s being said about your organization. You can, for example, do a twitter search for relevant terms (your organization name, or the name of a specific issue relevant to your organization). There are also services which can send you alert emails every time a certain term is mentioned in blogs and other social media tools. One example of such a service is Social Mention (http://www.socialmention.com/). Other examples include Trackur, Klout, and NetVibes.
At a minimum, government communicators should find and assess the social media tools that their target audiences are using. This landscaping can then be used to inform strategic plans, future communications, or budgets for greater participation in social media, if necessary.
Active
Once you’ve listened for a while and understand the tone and concerns of a social media community, you can begin becoming more active. You can post links to information to help people answer questions they have, or you can actively correct an inaccuracy on a blog, forum or a wiki.
This sort of activity can be done in ‘other people’s houses’ – that is, in the blogs, forums and wikis that others have established. Make sure you follow the ‘Basic principles’ and always identify yourself as a public servant if you are responding on behalf of your organization.
Engaged
Finally, your organization can become fully engaged. You can set up a group on a social networking site and regularly introduce content for discussion, or you can establish a Twitter profile and begin contributing and actively posting and answering questions.
Be aware that once you’ve become fully engaged, you have a responsibility to be a good custodian. You’ll need to post regularly, moderate comments as appropriate, and check regularly for messages that require a response.
Basic Principles for Agency Staff
There are some common principles shared across all forms of social media. Knowing these basic ‘rules of engagement’ will serve employees well, whether they are simply contributing to or actually managing an online community.
• Be credible – Be accurate, fair, thorough and transparent.
• Be consistent – Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation. Be cordial, honest and professional at all times.
• Be responsive – Answer questions in a timely manner. Share your insights where appropriate.
• Be integrated – Wherever possible align online participation with other offline communications.
• Be a public servant – Remember that you are an ambassador for your agency. Wherever possible disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency.
• Be a good custodian – If you’ve introduced and/or are managing your organization’s social media profile or blog, make sure that you’re posting content and checking messages regularly. An untended and out-of-date account looks unprofessional. Also ensure that information is created, kept and, if necessary, disposed of in accordance with organizational policies.
Codes of Conduct
The Code of Conduct for your individual agency apply to staff participation online as a public servant. Staff should participate in the same way as they would with other media or public forums such as speaking at conferences.
• Seek authorization to participate in social media on behalf of your agency. Do not disclose information, make commitments or engage in activities on behalf of government unless you are authorized to do so.
• If you are participating in social media on behalf of your agency, disclose your position as a representative of your agency unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as a potential threat to personal security. Never give out personal details like home address and phone numbers.
• Always remember that participation online results in your comments being permanently available and open to being republished in other media.
• Stay within the legal framework and be aware that defamation, copyright and privacy laws, among others, apply.
• If you’re using social media in a personal capacity, you should not identify your employer when doing so would bring your employer into disrepute.
• Keep in mind that even social media sites restricted to your ‘friends’ are in effect public, as you cannot control what friends do with the information.
• Always make sure that you are clear as to whether you are participating in an official or a personal capacity. Be aware that participating online may attract media interest in you as an individual, so proceed with care regardless of what capacity you are acting in.
If you have any doubts, take advice from your manager or legal team.
Special Advice to Chief Executives
As social media use increases, many Chief Executives are considering whether or not to participate in social media in a professional capacity themselves – for example, using Twitter or Facebook under their own name and as a representative of their organization.
When undertaking any new communications strategy, all channels should be considered, and if social media is deemed appropriate, Chief Executives need to consider the risks, benefits, goals, and audiences before directly participating. A Chief Executive’s presence on social media should be considered part of the larger communications strategy.
While social media has benefits, it needs to be actively managed if the benefits are to be realized and the risks minimized. One of the most serious drawbacks for Chief Executives is the amount of time social media takes up and the risk that, if they are not familiar with social media, Chief Executives might come across as too formal and, therefore, ‘inauthentic’. Consideration should be given to resourcing or delegating to a social media expert within the organization.
As with any media tool, Chief Executives should ensure they are adequately trained in using social media before they begin participating. It is a public forum, and should be considered as such at all times. Content posted in error in social media often cannot be withdrawn and may damage the organization’s reputation, as well as the professional reputation of the Chief Executive.

• Service Level Policy
This portal is managed by the Industry department (Ministry of Commerce and Industry and investment promosion), which can be found online at www.madeinoman.gov.om

Our aim is to empower the people and business in Oman by delivering information and services through a common gateway. We will do this by:
• Offering multiple channels, which are convenient and comfortable to use, and at affordable cost
• Structuring access to our services and information based on ‘life events’, ‘personas’ and topics
• Integrating all electronic services offered by the government
• Constantly upgrading the ease of access to services and information, so adoption within the community is ensured.

We are committed to:
• Providing the latest information on this portal to the visitors and announcing on the updates according to its content plans
• Responding to the visitors inquires and taking useful and feasible suggestions into account
• Addressing problems related to access to the portal’s sections and pages
• Reviewing content regularly and provide an updated content to visitors in both Arabic and English if possible.

General Provisions

The following General Provisions apply to all services to any and all customers. These General Provisions shall usually take precedence over specific metrics outlined in the Service Levels section.

Hours of Operation
We operate on a standard seven hours, 5 days a week basis. Standard Business Hours of operation are 7:30 am to 2:30 pm Sunday through Thursday and closed on announced holidays. We do not operate on a 24 by 7 basis and do not provide support outside of the standard working times, on weekends, or on holidays. Issues, data corrections, and updates shall be handled during the normal working hours unless provisions are made to handle these changes outside of normal working hours.
We endeavor to maintain our services through this portal in a manner that it is available at all times except when maintenance or repair activities are required. We will maintain uptime outside of standard business hours on a best effort and basis.

Priority of Response
In general, priority is given to correcting reported problems with production systems first. When simultaneous problems are reported with the production systems, the operation department shall determine which problem has priority.
Data corrections and updates shall generally be handled on a first in/first out basis except when a bona fide public safety issue is raised. Public safety related updates shall be given priority provided the agency submitting the correction requests that the update be given priority.
Data corrections and updates shall be suspended if necessary to apply resources to correct production issues. The operation department shall determine if and when the data updates and corrections must be suspended to handle production related problems.

Reporting Procedures
Suggestions/problems related to accessibility or usability of the portal services should be reported via:
Tweet to be sent to madeinoman@tejarah.gov.om

For other aspects of service provisioning, please see our Terms and Conditions page for more information.

Privacy Policy
Described below are the privacy policies and conditions of use of the portal of the Made in Omanand its provisions.
Privacy policy of the Made in OmanPortal
This Made in OmanPortal is managed by the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry/MOCI) of Oman. MOCI reserves its rights to add, delete or modify contents of this policy when required, even without prior notice.
Collection of Information
The privacy, confidence, and trust of individuals who visit the Made in OmanPortal are important to us. No personal information is collected at this portal unless provided voluntarily by an individual while participating in an activity requesting this information. The portal only collects the personal information necessary to provide the information or services requested by an individual.
“Personal information” refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual who is the subject of the information. This is the same information that an individual might provide when visiting a government office and includes such items as an individual’s name, address, or phone number.
We collect the following information for statistical purposes: IP Address (Unique Address) of your computer (PC or Server), the type of your web browser, domain name of your service provider, time and date of your visit, pages accessed by you on this portal and the address of the website visited by you previously. This information helps us understand how people are using this portal so that we can continually improve our services. The information collected is not associated with any specific individual and no attempt is made to profile individuals who browse this portal.
You may be asked to participate in surveys at this portal occasionally. Your Participation is optional, and the choice to participate or not to participate will have no effect on your ability to use other features of this web portal. By using the portal, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry) reserves the right to make any slight or radical modification to the terms of the Privacy Policy from time to time without having to give notice. If you continue to use the Made in Omanportal after the applying amendments to this Privacy Policy, this means that you accept those changes.
Use of Information
The Made in OmanPortal uses the collected information to respond appropriately to its service requests. This may be to respond directly to you or to improve this portal. E-mail or other information collected by the The Made in OmanPortal may be maintained or forwarded to appropriate Government Agencies or Departments in order to respond to the request and/or to enhance services. Information from the survey is used for the purpose designated in the survey. Information collected will not be sold or transferred to a third party (outside the Government) without your consent and it will not be used for any commercial purposes.
Retention of Information
Records needed to support government functions are retained, managed, and accessible in record keeping or filing systems in accordance with established records disposition authorizations approved by the Made in OmanPortal. Records transmitted to this portal will be identified, managed, protected, and retained as long as they are needed to meet historical, administrative, fiscal, or legal requirements.
Portal Security
This portal is highly secure and provides its workers with a comprehensive and strict information security policy. The access to personally identifiable information is available only to authorized personnel and these employees have agreed to ensure confidentiality of this information.
The Made in OmanPortal is committed to the security of the information that is either available from or collected by this portal and has taken multiple steps to ensure the security of information, which include but not limited to, authentication, monitoring, auditing, and encryption.
It’s a right of the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry), to take measures deemed appropriate to protect against any loss or misuse of or change to the information on the portal. In case of such external breach and data leakage, the Made in Omanis not considered legally responsible for any damage which may be exposed to you or any other person as a result, or eligible for compensation.
The portal has implemented strict procedures to protect against loss of information or misuse or changes. However, the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry) cannot guarantee the confidentiality breach resulting from your use of this portal. Made in Omanis not liable for any damages which may be sustained on you or any other person as a result of the breach of confidentiality on the information that may be transferred to the portal.
The laws of the Country of the Sultanate of Oman alone are the laws applicable in all the conflicts that may arise from the use of this portal, as the courts of the Sultanate of Oman are exclusively given in these conflicts and decision.
Cookies
Any web page or application at this portal may use cookies. Cookies are short and simple text files that are stored on a user’s computer hard drive by portal and web sites. They are used to keep track of and store information so the user does not have to supply the information multiple times. The information that is collected through cookies at this portal is handled in the same manner as other information collected here. You can configure your web browser to refuse cookies or to notify you when a web site attempts to send you a cookie. You can also check your hard drive for cookie files and delete them from your computer.

• Anti-Corruption Policy
The Royal Decree No. 64/2013 approved the Sultanate’s accession to the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Prevention of Corruption, which reflected the Sultanate’s keenness to cooperate with the international community to eliminate all criminal acts of corruption. The financial and administrative oversight of the State of the Anti-Corruption Commission and follow-up implementation of the Convention, which works hard with the body in coordination with the competent authorities to follow up the implementation of the Convention to ensure the implementation of Oman’s international obligations in this regard.

For details, please visit the website of the State Financial and Administrative Control Agency

• Copyright Notice
Copyrights 2016 © – Ministry of Commerce and Industry. All rights reserved.
Content – Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
The content of this portal including but not limited to information, images, graphics, video or other multimedia, software and links are the Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) and all relevant Omani Laws to protect this IPR through copyright, trademark and other forms of proprietary rights are applicable even if not mentioned explicitly.
All rights, titles and interests in the contents are owned by, licensed to or controlled by Invest Easy. Use of such content in this portal by way of reproduction, republishing, uploading, posting, transmission or any other form of distribution requires formal written consent of MOCI. MOCI reserves the rights to modify these rights and the associated contents without any prior notice.
Rights and Legality
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Oman reserves the right to deny or restrict access to this portal to any particular person, or to block access from a particular internet access to this portal at any time, without giving reasons. It is the responsibility of the visitor to use caution and prudence in using the information and services made available through this portal.
The Telecommunication Regulatory Laws of Oman and the Electronic Transactions Laws are also binding on every visitor visiting the Made in Omanportal and/or involving oneself in electronic transactions through this portal. This portal may contain links to non-Government sites whose data protection and privacy practices may differ from ours. We are not responsible for the content and privacy practices of these other websites and encourage you to consult the privacy notices of those sites. Also, please read the Privacy Policy applicable to this portal.

• Terms and Conditions
The rules for using the portal of the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry) must be applied to all users and visitors. The portal usage may be stopped, and/or prevented, and/or ended in case of any violation on the part of any user or if there are good reasons to believe that any user has violated rules and conditions of usage.
Users shall not be permitted to violate or attempt to violate the applicable procedures and regulations for protecting the website including but not limited to the following:
• Accessing details that are not intended to be provided to this user or logging into a server or an account that the user is not authorized to access.
• Attempting to conduct any test or survey for finding weakness of any system or network of the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry) or violating applicable procedures or documenting them without an official permit from the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry).
• Attempting to interfere in the provided service on the part of any user, host or network including but not limited to placing a virus on the portal, increasing load to or immersing it, sending commercial messages to it or avalanching it with electronic messages or even destroying it.
• Sending unwanted electronic messages to the portal including commercials and/or advertisements on services or products or falsifying any dispatch control protocol package address/internet protocol or any part of the address details in any electronic message or sending news messages.
• It is forbidden to use the Made in Omanportal (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) by any means for sending an e-mail, or anything of it or on its behalf, by referring to it, or assuming the identity of its name involving offense or libel of the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry), portal or any person whomsoever, announcing any untrue news or information and ascribing it to the Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry).
• Violating rules of usage, system or network shall expose the involved person to civil and criminal liability. Cases of such violations shall be investigated and the person involved shall be legally prosecuted.
• Made in Oman(Ministry of Commerce and Industry) shall not be held liable under any circumstances for any direct or indirect, accidental or subsequent, private or exceptional damages arising from usage or inability of using this portal.
The portal is managed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. By visiting and using this portal, it is deemed that you have agreed to be bound by this Terms of Use legally.
The Terms of Use may be changed from time to time and such changes made in this online version will constitute your agreement to the modified Terms of Use. Neither the Ministry of Commerce and Industry nor any other government entity will be liable for any damage or loss of any kind caused as result (direct or indirect) of the use of the website, including but not limited to any damage or loss suffered as a result of reliance on the contents contained in or available through this portal.