Historical background of the digitization

The Ministry of Industries, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh is responsible for overall industry related activities of Bangladesh. Before independence, there was a department of Commerce and Industries in Dhaka, the then provincial capital. After liberation of Bangladesh a new Ministry was created as Ministry of Commerce and Industries in 1972. The ministry was shifted from Bangladesh Secretariat to the present place in 1978. Afterward it was divided into 3 Ministries i.e., Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industries and Ministry of Textile and Jute. Board of Investment and Privatization commission came out as separate entities in 1989 and 2000 respectively from the Ministry of Industries. The first honorable minister of the ministry was Mr. M. Monsur Ali, now the honorable minister of this ministry is Mr. Dilip Barua. There is an official website of the ministry by which one can get information about the ministry. At the time of 2003 the ministry has taken an initiative to lunch a websites to get the maximum coverage and establish a global network. At that time it lunched the website and makes the information available to the users of the site. This website has accelerated its activities tremendously. Though the websites has lunched but the updated information is not available more. Now a day the websites are trying to include some new features to attract the sites. There are four corporations, 6 directorate/institutions and one Accreditation Board working under the ministry of Industries. The ministry supervises and coordinates the activities, policy matters and administrative affairs of these organizations in conformity with the existing laws, rules and regulations. The Ministry of Industries carries out its functions through six wings. They are: Administration & Co-ordination, Autonomous Bodies, Audit & Department, Privatization (Disinvestment), Laws & International Co-operation Research & Development, Planning. The ministry takes different project and plan to stabilize the overall business environment of the country. The Government of the country has taken step to digitalize all Government organization. The process is going on; more information related to the ministry is coming. From the very beginning of the ministry it is trying to develop its efficiency level. Through the website ministry linked with the other department under it. All of them are working together to achieve the objective of the Ministry. The website of the Ministry contains all the name of branch, organization related with the Ministry and linked them all through different website.

Brief profile of the website

Name of the website: Ministry of Industries Types Year of lunching Main users : Government website : 2003 : Economists, Academicians, Analysts & Professionals in Marketing, Finance, Development studies and a host of other disciplines, Policy makers, Researchers, Educational and other institutions, Corporate executives, Students and others Main content : Home, about the ministry, Work distribution, Citizen Charter, Policies, Rules and Regulations, Publications, Departments/ corporations, Notice board, Entrepreneurs assistance, Bilateral agreements, Latest news, Upcoming events, Development activities, Download, Links and Location maps.

Types of information provided for evaluating the performance of the ministry

The Ministry of Industries is the main source of industry related information. All the related information about industrial sector is provided by the website of Ministry. For evaluating the performance of the ministry the both qualitative and quantitive information are provided by the website of ministry: Qualitative information Allocation of business Work distribution Policies, rules and regulations Circular and tender notice Bilateral agreements Taxation rules Export-Import policy Environmental laws

Quantitive information Annual reports, Shilpo Barta, 3 years success report Exchange rates Statistical report Ongoing project reports.

Linkage with other ministries

Linkage is an important element for any website. Batter linkage with other website helps user to use the website more smoothly. For that reason the website of ministry of industries maintain the linkage with following ministries as well as other institutions:

Ministry of Shipping Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare & Overseas Employment Ministry of Liberation War Affairs Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Ministry of Home Affairs Ministry of Cultural Affairs Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of Social Welfares Ministry of Science and ICT Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Ministry of Education Ministry of Communications Ministry of Youth & Sports Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MWCA) Ministry of Land Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry of Chittagong Hills Tracts Affairs Ministry of Commerce Ministry of Agriculture Ministry of Post and Tele-Communication Ministry of Housing and Public Works Ministry of Textile and Jute Ministry of Labor And Employment

Evaluation of information provided

This website provides various types of information for evaluating the performance of ministry. That information is provided on the following basis: On the basis of time: In this category information are provided on the basis of duration, year and day basis. This website provides the fertilizer stock in daily basis. The other time based information provided by this site is the bilateral agreement information where the date of signing is showed from establishment period to now. This site also provides the running project list which is the other time based information.

On the basis of unit of measurement: In this category information are provided on the basis of units of measurement that means it shows the specific category of industry data which is considered to be a single unit. This website provides many industry related data through its statistical report content.

On the basis of caption: In this category indicates how many years information are available in this website. In this website I found the information of last year 2009-20010. In some cases it also provides information of year 2015-16. This types of information are provided for future predictions.

SWOT analysis
Strengths: The website provides various related information regarding different industries of Bangladesh Internal linkage with other ministries provide ease to users Roadmap of digitalization Source of knowledge acquiring Synchronized presentation of information User friendly downloading system

Weaknesses: Lack of update information Lack of attractiveness in designing website There is no FAQ system available in this site Recent years annual reports are not available Technical disturbances occurred Data category found but in this category no data found. About the function of the ministry no information are available

Opportunities: Provides entrepreneurs assistance information This website has a complain box where the user of website can write their complains Interested persons can know about the training, workshop news from this site Recruitment notices are provided from this site thats why interested applicant can get the news.

Threats: The main threat of this website is hacking. Lack of proper database, uploaded data may be changed

Possible measures to improve the website

Focusing more on strengths and reducing the weakness is one of the most sensitive activities for any organization. Ministry of Industries is also the follower of that concept. For strengthening the activities as well as reducing the weaknesses it is required to know about what possible measure should be taken. There are many possible measures to make the website more attractive and useful to all. By applying these tools ministry can develop the existing system and image of the Ministry itself but we have to consider about the limitation of the Ministry as well. The possible measure to improve the website are mentioned below1. Restructuring and redesigning is mandatory for increasing the attractiveness of site. 2. The under construction activities should be constructed as early as possible. 3. This site can include an extra element that is corporate social responsibility of industry related information. 4. This site can include a extra toolbar named Search Manu for the ease of users browsing. 5. The archive of this site should be updated regular basis. 6. Frequently asked question (FAQ) should be introduced in this site where user can know and ask about the several information of ministry. 7. The monthly performance review report of several industries should be included in this site. 8. Redesigning and develop the website by a renowned or efficient firm which have sufficient expertise and experience regarding the website 9. Information about functions and update background of ministry should be included in the content of about the ministry. 10. By increasing participation and involvement of the responsible person in the website 11. Unnecessary information should be cut from the site as well as relevant important information should be included. 12. Person related with the Ministry should be careful enough regarding the rights of the people to know about the activities of the Ministry from the website. The weakness of the website is reduced that time if the above mentioned necessary steps are taken to implement. If the steps will implement the strength of the website will also increased. The implementation strategy should be chronological basis that means measure should be taken step by step. So ministry should take necessary steps to overcome its lacking and to make it attracted and useful to all of the concerned people.

Concluding remarks
In the economy of Bangladesh industries plays an important role through contributing in the national income and GDP. Thats why the government of Bangladesh established a separate ministry for providing the necessary information about this most significant sector. The objective of digitalization of that ministry was providing the industry related information with in less time to its users. But unfortunately its true that this site was not able to fulfill its objective properly. The website of ministry represents its country. Thats why it should be looked very attractive as well as it should provide different types of necessary relevant information. In this sense this site is not up to mark. This site should be redesigned to increase the attractiveness. In this report there are some recommendations given to improve the performance of the website. These recommendations should be followed properly but first it has to select these measures as priority basis and implement it chronologically one after another. If the basic requirements of the website are fulfilled than it will be accepted by all. Otherwise it will be considered as only the show piece of the Ministry. So ministry should take necessary steps to overcome its lacking and to make it attracted and useful to all of the concerned people.