The project aimed to overcome various barriers and constraints and drastically change existing manual operations and transactions with the citizen; in general, our holistic new IT Strategy aimed to promote automation of re-engineered business processes, integration of information and processes from other government and local authority systems based on an open, flexible and interoperable architecture and change the view of the DLS Land Registration System as a “Closed Register” to an “Accessible and Open Register” while maintaining the requirement of the provision of information to the public on a need and entitlement basis.
Our prime vision is to continuously improve, expand and reengineer our multipurpose role, in order to best serve the citizen, in accordance with all the laws and regulations prevailing nowadays in the EU. Our success depends on our ability to adapt to all the ongoing socio-economic changes, occurring both in Cyprus, as well as in the EU, which incorporate major changes into our Legal System, and quality improvements in all of our services offered to the public, making them much more effective and highly efficient.
Additionally, and as outlined in the DLS IT Strategy, our vision is to change and transform the DLS IT environment to support a modern cadastre that will be needed for the future; this is based on an architecture that facilitates the delivery of services to citizens and interested entities, enables people to readily and confidently identify the location and extent of all rights, restrictions and responsibilities related to land and property through also the use of spatial data.
Specific situation Strategic Pillars to be achieved and constraints to be overcomed were:
- Establish an IT management and control framework based on an IT Governance model
- Enhance IT service delivery by developing IT systems and services to support a flexible and scalable business mode
- Design and deploy a flexible, interoperable and scalable IT architecture including the spatial depiction of land rights, restrictions and responsibilities
- Enable the standardization of business processes while enhancing speed and efficiency via automation
- Enable the efficient integration with external systems / data sources thus linking authorities and other entities
- Increase emphasis on timely availability, quality and transparency of data submitted only once, through a data management and maintenance process
- Rationalize systems to transition culture from performing a task to executing end to end processes and by minimizing the need for on-site presence
- Enhance security and control
- Enable the monitoring of performance and reduction of operating costs via correlated and insightful information
- Develop a roadmap that accounts for changing business and regulatory needs
- The DepartmentÕs proposal to develop strategic data open access and Primary Registries and Interdepartmental Agreements in relation to making available key data could be actively supported.
Operational evolution and enhancement of performance via increased productivity, efficiency and cost optimization require optimum utilization of resources, based on a solid framework of digitization and automation. Furthermore, in times of increased pressure on public finances, digitization is one of the most important tools available to modernize operational processes while performing tasks with fewer human resources. Digitization is thus a key tool for solving the many challenges that Cyprus will face as a whole and the Department of Lands and Surveys specifically over the coming years. It is clear that ÒRecovery and Evolution is (thus) DigitalÓ.
Finally, DLS PORTAL has provided the ultimate solution for DLS to boost old ad-hoc efforts in order to increase the vice-versa communication with the citizen and move away from manual operations. It was obvious that:
- In the recent years before the launch of the DLS PORTAL, only ad-hoc efforts have been completed to make available more information (open data) online and serve users;
- These efforts have been mostly driven by either a specific need that arose at the time or due to the initiative of DLS team members;
- However, none of the DLS transactional applications have been re-engineered for service delivery via the web, at that point of time.