A tool to measure positive impacts of digitalisation in the UAE

Image courtesy Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI), United Arab Emirates

Policy approach(es) used to catalyse investment: Development of a national, regional, or sectoral InfraTech strategy 

Technology approach(es) used to catalyse investment: Implementation of a data platform or digital twin for greater transparency over performance; a change in technical standards 

Finance approach(es) used to catalyse investment: Public investment

The Digitalisation Impact Tool was developed to support the Green Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy for the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI), United Arab Emirates. Since 2015, converting to the electronic system has supported the UAE government to offset 36,984,147 t-CO2 emissions. The objective of the Digitalisation Tool is to document the positive impact of digitalisation on the environment, MOEI, and MOEI’S customers. This tool will track the different impacts of the transformation from hard-copy transactions to fully digital and online transactions and processes. Using the tools, MOEI has better traceability and accountability on data and transactions and can keep track of all the work that takes place and its impacts on different areas.

Using the tool, the owner or organisation can accurately and readily identify the annual CO2 emissions offset caused by converting to an electronic system and the amount of water, energy, time, and number of papers saved by the organisation.

Image courtesy Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI), United Arab Emirates

The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure developed the tool internally using best practices and methods by finding out all aspects that are affected by the digital transformation of transactions in organisations and then measuring this impact on them. This work by input required details in the Calculator sheet, including the number of transactions that were transformed to digital ones in a given month and/or year. The tool then finds the detailed digitalisation impact of the transactions. 

The financial savings are also calculated from the rate of reducing the papers and the savings on the customer from the value of oil and parking fees. The tool is very useful in explaining the impact of digital transformation on all aspects for customers, stakeholders, and decisionmakers.

Replicability

The ease of the tool allows it to be used in all projects, and also allows other needs to be added that can be measured according to the project requirement. The tool is applied to measure the impact of digitisation in all online services provided by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure in all its sectors, whether through the official website of the Ministry or through online applications.

Among the services that measure the number of online transactions are housing services, geological and petrol services, infrastructure services, maritime transport, land transport, and all requests received according to the projects (renewal, extension, change, etc.). 

Other approaches that enabled investment

The UAE Digital Government Strategy 2025 is one of the main enablers, as it has directed entities to digital transformation. From there, the Ministry developed many strategies that support the objective of digital strategy. The main objective of the UAE digital strategy is to create broad, cross-sectoral political commitment and buy-in for embedding digital aspects into overall government strategies.  

This is crucial to ensure that the UAE Government is digital by design and that all capacities, structures, and opportunities are integrated on a national level and aligned with the UAE’s strategic digital government vision. The sustainability strategy was developed to reflect the Ministry's vision, mission, and strategic objectives and its desire to set a leading standard for sustainability performance in all major departments and divisions under the Ministry's control.

Note: This case study and all information within was submitted by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI), United Arab Emirates in response to our global call for InfraTech case studies.