“Around 29 million citizens and foreign residents can now access SADAD over the Internet or by telephone, which means they no longer need to pay bills in person.”

Yousef Al Hargan, SADAD Enrolment Project Manager, Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Ministry of Finance (MoF) wanted to extend the highly successfully SADAD electronic bill payment service—which operates in partnership with banks and other billing agencies—to other public sector agencies. Working with Microsoft Partner Secured Systems Services, the MoF deployed SADAD at 37 new sites in five years, ensuring that the public sector now serves more than 29 million citizens’ payment transactions.

Business NeedsThe Saudi Monetary Agency (SAMA), the kingdom’s central bank, launched its electronic bill presentation and payment system—called SADAD—in 2004 to facilitate and streamline bill payment transactions through banks. Prior to SADAD, payment and collection was fragmented and silo-based for government, citizens, and businesses.

Responding to growing demand for SADAD—which citizens can access from bank branches, over the Internet, or by telephone—the MoF wanted to enroll other government agencies. It needed to increase the number of sites where SADAD operates and upgrade the technology based on earlier versions of Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft BizTalk. The ministry also wanted to ensure rapid time to market by working with an experienced technology partner with expertise in the SADAD e-payments system.

The MoF established its SADAD Enrolment Project in 2006 to extend the use of SADAD from critical sites—such as the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and customs, welfare, and income tax departments—to other government business units, including agencies such as the Saudi Ports Authority and the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority.

Yousef Al Hargan, SADAD Enrolment Project Manager, Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, says: “Prior to SADAD, a huge percentage of bills were paid in cash at bank branches by customers throughout the kingdom. To extend the use of SADAD in the public sector, we issued an initial request for proposal for a partner to deploy and operate SADAD at up to 22 sites with an appropriate IT platform. We needed a technology solution that was open to accommodate the particular technologies used by different billers.”

SolutionMicrosoft Partner Secured Systems Services—a Jordanian–Saudi e-government solutions specialist with Gold competency in service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process—designed the architecture and built a SADAD integration platform for each agency using Microsoft technologies.

The architecture is based on the Microsoft BizTalk orchestration layer and Microsoft SQL Server software, while developers use the Microsoft .NET Framework. Each government agency has its own specific business processes, requiring a high degree of customization at each site to accommodate diverse technologies used

Customer: Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaWebsite: www.mof.gov.saCustomer Size: 5,000+Country or Region: Saudi ArabiaIndustry: Government—Finance, tax, and monetary policy agenciesPartner: Secured Systems Services

Customer ProfileThe Ministry of Finance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible for supervising the administration of fiscal and monetary policy, and monitoring its implementation by the public sector.

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009− Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Technologies− Microsoft .NET Framework

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Microsoft BizTalk ServerCustomer Solution Case Study

Saudi Ministry Extends Electronic Payments System to Serve 29 Million Citizens

by different billers, which demonstrate the openness of the solution.

Firas Mousli, Chief Executive Officer, Secured Systems Services, says: “We started with earlier versions of Microsoft BizTalk and Microsoft SQL Server, but the most recently completed sites are using Microsoft BizTalk 2009 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005. We have expertise in SADAD, having developed our own C4 SADAD e-payment integration product—C4 SADAD: Connector for SADAD—for billers in Saudi Arabia. We use our own customized tools when working at the MoF sites.”

This expertise has ensured that the first 22 sites required by the MoF were delivered in just two years. In the third year, the number increased to 31, and then six more were subsequently added, making 37 in five years. Mousli says: “Time to market was a major consideration for the MoF to encourage greater acceptance among the public of electronic processing of payments, especially as more services go online. The SADAD electronic bill presentation and payments system in Saudi Arabia is the second largest in the world and already serves around 29 million users. In future phases, the MoF is looking to add more government agencies.”

BenefitsThe MoF SADAD Enrolment Project has been expanded in the past three years and is now handling a huge portion of government e-payments. It has significantly cut the losses previously experienced by the government under its manual, cash-based system for paying fees and transaction charges. SADAD is also reducing the time taken by billers to collect money from banks—from up to 60 days to one business day.

Citizen satisfaction contributes to rapid expansion of SADAD. SADAD offers a full array of payment channels, making it accessible to every citizen, expatriate, and business in the kingdom—14 banks now accept SADAD payments.

Around 29 million people can now access payments system. Al Hargan says: “Around 29 million citizens and foreign residents can now access SADAD over the Internet or by telephone, which means they no longer need to pay bills in

person. But people that can’t access these channels can still go to their nearest bank branch, where staff will help them make payments via SADAD.”

MoF plans to upgrade and extend SADAD to other agencies. Having overcome some initial resistance, SADAD has shifted consumer behavior from physical to e-payments channels, with payments taking one working day instead of up to 60 days. Al Hargan says: “There are another 60 government agencies that as yet are not connected to SADAD and they can be accommodated even if they use diverse billing systems.”

Technology roadmap includes upgrade for Microsoft technologies. Al Hargan says: “We will also be upgrading the Microsoft technologies at some of the sites that went live earlier in the program. These plans are under review with our consultants so we can achieve best value for money through a request for proposal.”

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Document published June 2013