Government to citizen service delivery has taken a leap forward with the Deeds Office and the Department of Land Affairs` latest technology project. With the help of SITA (State Information Technology Agency), Comparex Africa, Dimension Data and Software AG, they`ve joined the e-business community, offering a Web-based interface to the Deeds Registration System (DRS) called DeedsWeb.
Due to Land Reform initiatives, it is estimated that the Deeds Office`s service requirement levels will increase substantially in the near future. Through DeedsWeb, the Deeds Office and the Department of Land Affairs can address the increasing demand for information effectively, maintaining a high level of service with the help of the Internet.
"People can now register on DeedsWeb, which will then enable them to search for deeds registration information such as property information or sequestration inquiries," says Gerald O`Sullivan, director: information services for the Department of Land Affairs.
"By making deeds data available to anyone with Internet connectivity, Land Affairs has taken a great step forward in improving government to citizen service delivery."
Previously, registered external users such as conveyancers, financial institutions and estate agents could obtain registration information from the DRS, through the Deeds Office`s Aktex Information System, which is dependent on Telkom`s Speedlink network. Through the Web-enablement of the Deeds Registration System, this has now been extended for wider use. Although user registration is still required for financial accounting purposes, the casual browser will also be catered for as a subsequent phase to the project.
But how has this been made possible? Johnny Aucamp, sales manager at Dimension Data, South African partner of Software AG, explains that in essence the Deeds Office`s current legacy system has been linked to the Web via Software AG`s middleware offering Entire-X.
"The DRS system features our industrial strength database management system Adabas and runs on an OS390 mainframe at SITA`s offices in Centurion. A mainframe partition hosts the IBM WebSphere application server, which communicates with Adabas via our Entire-X middleware. Industry-standard Java Server Pages from Comparex Africa were also used to develop the server side application."
According to a 2001 report by well known IT research group IDC, Software AG dominates the message-oriented-middleware market with its Entire-X offering. "The strongest international player is definitely software vendor Software AG." IDC also points out that Software AG is committed to moving the technology increasingly into the businessware space.
People can simply connect to www.deeds.gov.za, which directs the user to the WebSphere application server. Depending on the request, the server uses Entire-X to communicate with the Adabas database to retrieve the deeds data and pass it back in XML format. WebSphere then formats the data, generates the HTML pages and sends it back to the user. And all of this is done quickly and effectively, providing the user with accurate information when he needs it.
DeedsWeb has indeed ensured that more South Africans now have access to the Deed Office`s information. It is also generating additional income for the Deeds Office and the Department of Land Affairs, as registered users are charged a minimal fee for every search - making more resources available for Land Reforms. "Very importantly", comments O`Sullivan, "DeedsWeb creates the backbone for the government`s proposed Electronic Deeds Registration System (e-DRS) that will in future enable us to capture property and other registrations electronically."
Concludes Aucamp: "DeedsWeb is an excellent example of how Dimension Data and Software AG fulfil the government`s needs to integrate their legacy systems with the web and other systems, maximising current investment to enhance service delivery to South Africans."
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