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25 August 2008

Service delivery in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) will be boosted significantly with the official launch of the Provincial Nerve Centre by KZN Premier Sibusiso Ndebele on Wednesday. The Nerve Centre is to offer a single view of government programmes and also enable government to track development and service delivery down to local level using Information Communication Technology (ICT) innovation.

Details of the event are as follows:

Date: 27 August 2008 (Wednesday)
Time: 09h00
Venue: Provincial Nerve Centre, 1st Floor, Premier's Office, 300 Langalibalele Street, Pietermaritzburg

Delivering the 2008/09 Budget Speech for the Office of the Premier on 15 April 2008, Premier Ndebele stated that the Provincial Nerve Centre, which includes the development of a Business Intelligence System to support the Nerve Centre, will be in operation soon. The Nerve Centre is one of the key initiatives undertaken by Premier Ndebele to strengthen the machinery of government in the province.

"The main aim of the Provincial Nerve Centre is to provide an automated and integrated information management system that will help monitor and evaluate government service delivery in KZN. The Nerve Centre will assist in providing better service delivery to the public in line with Batho Pele principles. It will also empower public servants through collaborative information management to ensure efficient and responsive accountability relationships," said Premier Ndebele.

The key objectives of the Nerve Centre include:
* to bridge the gap between strategic provincial objectives and the execution thereof. The system will help to link objectives to tangible outcomes in terms of information on key performance indicators and programme outputs across departments and local government institutions and
* to enable the Office of the Premier to quantify and measure trends in departmental and provincial performance and thereby ensure that current service levels are better managed and achieved.

In the complex and dynamic environments that characterise government today, the need for good quality information is critical to the effective functioning of government and underpins service delivery mechanisms much more today than ever before. To this end, the Provincial Nerve Centre will provide for national, provincial and local data integration, analysis of population trends, provide forecasts as well as analysis as to why certain projects did not achieve their desired outcomes. It will also assist in determining where future services should be directed and measures to drive improvements in all sectors.

Together with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and endorsed by the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council, the Office of the Premier has embarked on this project to exponentially improve the acquisition and management of critical information upon which strategic decisions can be more easily made by the provincial government.

All media are invited to attend. Please note picture opportunities.

Journalists attending must confirm their attendance by no later than 14h00 on Tuesday, 26 August 2008 as per the contact details listed below.

Enquiries: Logan Maistry
Premier's spokesperson
Cell: 083 644 4050
E-mail: maistryl@premier.kzntl.gov.za

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
25 August 2008