Jeddah Municipality Research Articles

The Impact of Employing the Automation System of Paperwork on the Performance Level from the Point of View of Jeddah Municipality Staff Members: A Field Study

Abstract: This study aimed at examining the impact of employing the automation of paperwork on the performance level from the point of view Jeddah municipality staff members. To this end, the study utilized the analytical descriptive approach. The total number of the study sample consisted of (1375) staff members, whose ranks varied between the seventh and tenth ranks. A random sample of 300 staff members was selected. The study questionnaire was distributed for the sake of collecting data. (SPSS) was used to analyze the results. Eventually, several results were concluded, the most important of which is the fact that municipality staff members have the necessary expertise and competence to carry out the required tasks. The researchers recommend more development of administrative work in line with E-management objectives. Keywords: automation, performance level, paperwork, Jeddah Municipality

Centimeter Precision Geoid Model for Jeddah Region (Saudi Arabia)

In 2014, the Jeddah Municipality made a call for an estimate of a centimetric precision geoid model to be used for engineering and surveying applications, because the regional geoid model available at that time did not reach a sufficient precision. A project was set up to this end and dedicated sets of gravity and Global Positioning System (GPS)/levelling data were acquired in the framework of this project. In this paper, a thorough analysis of these newly acquired data and of the last available Global Gravity Field Models (GGMs) has been done in order to obtain a geoid undulation estimate with the prescribed precision. In the framework of the Remove–Compute–Restore (RCR) approach, the collocation method was used to obtain the height anomaly estimation that was then converted to geoid undulation. The remove and restore steps of the RCR approach were based on GGMs, derived from the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) dedicated gravity satellite missions, which were used to improve the long wavelength components of the Earth’s gravity field. Furthermore, two different quasi-geoid collocation estimates were computed, based on gravity data only and on gravity plus GPS/levelling data (the so-called hybrid estimate). The best solutions were obtained with the hybrid geoid estimate. This was tested by comparison with an independent set of GPS/levelling geoid undulations that were not included in the computed solutions. By these tests, the precision of the hybrid geoid is estimated to be 3.7 cm. This precision proved to be better, by a factor of two, than the corresponding one estimated from the pure gravimetric geoid. This project has been also useful to verify the importance and reliability of GGMs developed from the last satellite gravity missions (GOCE and GRACE) that have significantly improved our knowledge of the long wavelength components of the Earth’s gravity field, especially in areas with poor coverage of terrestrial gravity data. In fact, the geoid models based on satellite-only GGMs proved to have a better performance, despite the lower spatial resolution with respect to high-resolution models (i.e., Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008)).

Evaluating Pharmacy Practice in Hospital Settings in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia: Prescribing and Transcribing-2018.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prescription and transcription processes in hospital settings in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. Method: A customized version of the original American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) survey was distributed to a total of 26 hospitals in Jeddah city that fits our criteria starting from December 2017. Hospitals' names were adopted from the Ministry of Health and Jeddah Municipality websites. All questionnaires were collected in June 2018. After that, they were classified according to the type of care provided by the hospital, size, ownership, teaching affiliation, and accreditation. Data were entered electronically using Google forms, and then Microsoft Excel was used to conduct descriptive statistics. Results: The survey had a response rate of 57%. A strict formulary system was adopted in 53.3% of hospitals, and clinical practice guidelines were used to optimize medication use in 86.7% of hospitals. Pharmacists do not have the authority to write medication orders in about 86.7% of hospitals and only 40.0% of hospitals have pharmacists routinely assigned to patient care units. However, Pharmacists actively provided consultation, mostly in drug information (80.0%). Computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) is used to receive medication orders electronically in 80.0% of hospitals, and electronic health record (EHR) is used in about 53.3% of hospitals and 50.0% of those hospitals have pharmacists who document their clinical intervention in EHR. Conclusion: Survey results suggest that pharmacists in hospital settings have not yet been positioned to improve the prescribing and transcribing components of the medication-use process.

Continuously operating reference station and surveying applications in KSA

SummaryRecently, there is an increased interest in surveying applications based on Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Jeddah Municipality has started operating the first CORS network in KSA since 2007.This work discusses the new technologies used in Jeddah CORS network, the obtained accuracy and addresses, the different applications covered by CORS network such as cadastral surveying, road surveying, Lidar, among others. Moreover, the work presents the determination of the different transformation parameters between ITRF/WGS84 coordinate system and the local coordinate systems used in KSA.The purpose is to improve the communication abilities in order to operate modern smart cities. With full coverage and high accuracy of locations, Geographic Information System (GIS) and 3D models will be created to operate all aspects of life starting from the inside (the houses) and ending with saving the environment and the energy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effectiveness of Copepod, <i>Acanthocyclops vernalis</i> on Dengue Fever Victor, <i>Aedes aegypti</i> under Laboratory Conditions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

A. aegypti, the primary carrier for dengue viruses that cause dengue fever and are widespread over large areas of the tropics and subtropics. The copepod, Acanthocyclops vernalis was collected from a pond located in Hail, a city in northwestern Saudi Arabia. A. aegypti colonies established from Laboratory of Public Health Pests, Jeddah Municipality, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In the laboratory, the predatory capacity of copepod predator A. vernalis tested on first and second instars of Aedes aegypti. A single adult female of A. vernalis was tested against 50 larvae of A. aegypti in case the presence and absence of an alternative food. Several doses of A. vernalis (10, 15, 20 and 25 adults) against 100 larvae of mosquito were tested also in case the presence and absence of an alternative food under laboratory conditions.

Technology knowledge management (TKM) taxonomy

Purpose – Knowledge is a main resource of any organization. Knowledge management (KM) is identified by four processes: creating, capturing, distributing and sharing of knowledge. Technology can enable successful KM. The purpose of this paper is to propose a technology knowledge management (TKM) taxonomy, which lists popular electronic tools that can enhance KM processes and shows which tool can contribute to which processes. Design/methodology/approach – The taxonomy was developed by an extensive literature review of electronic KM tools and a three-year extensive analysis of different knowledge sources at the Jeddah Municipality (JM) in Saudi Arabia. Findings – The taxonomy can be used by practitioners developing an organizational KM system to guide them to choose a sufficient subset of tools that covers all four processes in order to ensure that no process is overlooked. Research limitations/implications – The result of using the TKM taxonomy and its effect on KM success is an interesting area for furthe...

Assessment of PPP for establishment of CORS network for municipal surveying in Middle East

Nowadays many Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) network were established in the Middle East to improve different municipal surveying. Establishing such geodetic control networks can be a costly business where multiple stations should be occupied simultaneously and post-processed with scientific software. Recently, precise point positioning (PPP) has attracted wide interest because it provides an alternative to precise relative processing due to its potential as a reliable absolute positioning technique operational simplicity. In comparison with common relative GPS techniques, the costs are reduced; because no base stations and no simultaneous observations are necessary. This research investigates the capability of PPP approach to be a low cost alternative to the conventional positioning methods used in coordinates determination of geodetic networks. The GPS data used during setting up Jeddah municipality network were originally processed by Bernese software version 5.0. That GPS data were processed again using PPP approach and comparable investigation was carried out between the coordinates obtained from Bernese software and CSRS-PPP software. The results showed that overall CSRS-PPP solutions agreed with the Bernese solutions, where the Root Mean Square of the difference between the two solutions reaches 2·6 mm in Easting, 2·5 mm in Northing, and 10 mm in Height. The derived centimetre accuracy from PPP approach which is suitable for municipal surveying confirmed that it can be used for establishment of CORS networks.

Towards a real time leveling using the VRS GPS network in Jeddah

Jeddah Municipality (JM) established a Virtual Reference Stations (VRS) GPS network for different survey applications. JM provides the users with VRS service to enable them to reach a real time cm-accuracy of horizontal position with single GPS receiver.To achieve high accuracy for GPS leveling applications a precise geoid model must be defined and applied with the GPS measurements. One of the methods that are used for developing a local geoid model is enhancing a Global Geopotential Model (GGM) with a comprehensive set of gravity, GPS, and leveling measurements.This paper evaluates six of the recent GGMs with measured GPS and leveling data in Jeddah to select the best model to be used with VRS GPS. That model will be the first candidate to develop a local geoid model for Jeddah. The results indicate that the GO-CONS-GCF-2-TIM-R1 model is the best available model which gives the minimum standard deviation of geoidal height difference.

Using Balanced Scorecards to Manage IT Strategies in Public Organizations: The Case of Jeddah Municipality

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), used for performance measurement and strategy management, is composed of four perspectives linked by cause and effect relations in the following order: Learning and Growth, Internal Processes, Customers, and Financial, with the financial perspective being the final outcome. This paper describes how the IT Department at the Jeddah Municipality adopted the BSC to match its strategic objectives as a nonprofit function of a public service organization, placing its financial perspective as an input and its Customer perspective as the final outcome. This is in line with the fact that the IT Department uses budgets allocated by the government and is customer-centric, not profit-centric. The concept of altering the BSC by placing the Customer perspective at the top, which is proposed in this paper, can be used by other public service organizations which aim to be customer-centric. The paper also demonstrates how the Jeddah Municipality IT BSC guides the Municipality IT strategy, management, and budget planning and provides two tools which complement the IT BSC which are the Project and Strategic Objectives Matrix and the Project and Budget Planning Matrix.

E-procurement vs. online procurement: a means to increase transparency in a Saudi Government organisation: the case of the Jeddah Municipality

Literature states that governments around the world are currently adopting e-procurement as a means to improve transparency, efficiency, and timeliness. This paper argues that existing public e-procurement systems should be labelled ‘online procurement’, as opposed to ‘e-procurement’, as public e-procurement, falling within the context of e-government, should enable e-democracy and government transformation through citizen participation; while existing systems do not do so. In Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah Municipality (JM) is one of the very few that use e-procurement in the Kingdom. Its e-procurement system has been used as a model for other Saudi Government agencies by policy makers. The system was launched with the goal of enabling the municipality to conduct all procurement services electronically, while empowering citizens to monitor and govern the process. This paper presents the JM e-procurement system, its implementation stages, its current status and its future plans.

Public–private partnership in regenerating unplanned settlements in jeddah

In 2008, the Makkah Region initiated a program to regenerate Unplanned Settlements (UPSs) within its three main cities, namely Makkah, Jeddah and Taif. Since all past initiatives in tackling UPS improvements were dependent on limited municipal funds, results were limited and accordingly UPSs kept spreading and their conditions were far from improved. In response to political and social pressures, the Makkah Region developed a strategy to regenerate UPSs based on Public–Private Partnership (PPP) which specifi cally divides UPSs into four groups according to their economic feasibility. This paper reviews the regeneration process in the City of Jeddah which encompasses 55 UPSs, housing about one million people, which is equal to one-third of Jeddah’s population. Jeddah Municipality was prepared to start the regeneration program due to the setting up of a private company called the Jeddah Development and Urban Regeneration Company (JDURC) which was established and ready to implement the regeneration strategy of Makkah Region. In 2008, JDURC successfully formed two partnerships with separate private developers to regenerate fi ve UPS areas. Though the regeneration process is in its early stages, examining the legal and development frameworks for engaging PPP in the process is nevertheless important when assessing its competence to meet social, economic and technical issues. The paper fi nds that the use of PPP in regenerating UPS areas is fraught with diffi culties; and that consequently, as the regeneration process engaging PPP is fairly recent, it must be subjected to continuous review to deal with issues arising.

Large urban developments as the new driver for land development in Jeddah

Land development in most Saudi cities including Jeddah is generated by formal land subdivision and informal land development usually referred to as unplanned settlements. Both types of developments contributed to urban sprawl and other urban challenges. Jeddah Municipality attempted to improve land development by encouraging large urban developments. Recently, Jeddah Municipality approved four large urban developments which appear to manifest encouraging implications for urban growth and land development that this paper aims to explore. The paper examines the policy and market contexts that govern land development in general and large urban developments in particular, in order to pave the way to uncover their implications for city growth and land development. The data gathered for this purpose is drawn from published and unpublished reports from relevant authorities. It is found that large urban developments as new mechanisms of land development appear incapable of overcoming key challenges that face city growth and existing land development.

ACTIVATING THE ROLE OF THE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION AS A CATALYST TO PRESERVE THE RESPONSIVENESS OF THE URBAN HERITAGE JEDDAH HISTORICAL AREA

The goal of this research is to examine a methodology in Architectural Education to test the responsiveness of the Urban Heritage environment. The problem was that the historical area in old Jeddah city was not properly covered in both the urban or the architectural academic studies, some efforts were done but they were not enough to fill the gap,. Furthermore there was a full absence of any image that should be given to the students to preserve or develop the local historical precedent. The author tried through an organized study to raise the awareness of his students about this part of knowledge. A tool was designed to help students understanding the local historical environment with a sound architectural and urban study that can reveal its urban and architectural problems and then in turn suggest specific and clear solutions that can be applied in the real world The research sample was designed in a multi level system that can be examined practically in the specified location. Seven levels were examined permeability, variety, legibility, robustness, visual appropriateness, richness and personalization. All data were collected through site surveys, the urban reports that were saved by the Faculty of Environmental Design, and other data from previous workshops held by Jeddah Municipality about historical Jeddah. Some questionnaires were designed as a demand for some qualities examined in the study. The research proves the success of the examined methodology to specify the key problems of the environment and then in turn to suggest and recommend the proper solutions for them.

Development of Local Revenues for Jeddah Municipality

Development of Local Revenues for Jeddah Municipality