Government, through the Ministry of Communications and its implementing agency National Information Technology Agency (NITA), is deploying the Smart Workplace solution to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

The pilot of ‘Smart Workplace solution’ commenced in 2018. However, government accelerated its deployment with the advent of COVID-19 to enable public sector workers work remotely to reduce personal contact, curb the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of public servants.

The Smart Workplace roll-out is being done by NITA. Currently, 300 government agencies, including the Ghana Health Service, are on the platform as NITA facilitates the onboarding of the next batch of agencies.

The Smart Workplace solution has over 19 features and several benefits. It provides staff a highly efficient virtual work environment with a single access point to all resources by interfacing with MDAs and MMDAs internal (in-house) systems.

These include: Enterprise Email, Calendar, Microsoft Teams (video conferencing), Document Management, Correspondence Management, Electronic Memos, Corporate News/Announcements, Enterprise Search, Task Management, Knowledge Management, and Workflow Automation.

Other features include Business Intelligence and Analytics, Timesheets, Project Monitoring, Business Application Access, Notifications, Survey, Media Gallery and Mobile Access. Smart Workplace can also automate manual business processes such as Leave schedules, Vehicle and Payment requests, as well as Stores Requisitions.

Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has urged all public servants to utilise the platform – which is supported by government for use by all public institutions, especially during the pandemic period.

“Changing our way of doing things is not easy, but with practice we will become more comfortable using these digital tools; and at such a time as this, Smart Workplace™ will help with the transition safely without sacrificing speed and efficiency,” said Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful. She called on all public institutions to give NITA the necessary support to ensure successful implementation of the project.

NITA will submit forms to all MDAs and MMDAs for collation of information that will be used for onboarding institutions onto the Smart Workplace platform.