Nada Haroen, Head of Product, GovTech Edu

1. How do you use technology or policy to improve citizens’ lives?  

As Head of Product at Tribe School Resources and One Data, I lead product development, including the school financial management (ARKAS) and school procurement information system (SIPLah) platforms, and ensure education data can be integrated within the centralised data ecosystem.  

ARKAS significantly reduces the administrative burden in over 400,000 schools, simplifying the workflow of school operational fund administration, saving time (on average over five hours per month) of school treasurers or teachers, allowing them to focus more on improving education services.  

SIPLah matches schools with suppliers in the marketplace. This process requires standardisation of business processes and uniformity of data structures so that it can be monitored transparently, easily and at any time by the Ministry of Education.  

The standardisation of business processes and data structures makes the integration of ARKAS and SIPLah feasible. So that schools can use education funds, purchase goods and services, and create financial reports conveniently.   

I am also responsible for building a centralised data ecosystem through the Ministry of Education Data Portal. Through this portal, we strive to build a foundation towards more efficient utilisation of data in the Ministry of Education's technology ecosystem. 

2. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year? 

The integration of ARKAS and SIPLah has helped schools ensure that expenditure is in line with the plan approved by the government. 

Before the integration, schools had to manually check to see if the expenditure was in line with the government's school fund utilisation rules and did not exceed the set limit.

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3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024?    

A solid work culture has helped our team to focus on the fundamentals of developing products that benefit the public sector, which is the vision of GovTech Edu. Over the past four years or so, the vision has helped our team understand the long-term goals.

The need to ease the burden of school administration on the one hand, and maintain accountability of fund management on the other, was important. For this reason, we are determined to integrate various systems with optimal service quality, including during peak usage times.   

4. What’s one tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2025?   

In an increasingly data-dependent world, data quality is a critical factor. Without quality data, analyses and decisions made from that data can be detrimental. 

Therefore, the implementation of a structured and regulation-enforced Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) is a key foundation to ensure data integrity and accuracy. With a strong DQM system, organisations can avoid data quality issues and ensure that the data used is reliable. 

Regulations act as the legal foundation and standards that strengthen the implementation of systems and norms in DQM. Clear regulations will provide a binding legal framework for organisations to manage data properly. 

5. Everybody’s talking about AI today – give us your hot take on AI and what it means for the public sector 

A good use of AI is one whose benefits are accessible to everyone, regardless of socio-economic or geographical background. In addition, AI should be a tool to assist users, not to replace their roles or jobs.

AI has the potential to reduce repetitive work. One example is in the drafting of documents, but finalising the document still requires a human to ensure accountability.  

6. What are your priorities for 2025? 

The main priority that I would like to do in 2025 is to transform the data exchange system. By adopting a single data and event-driven approach, it is expected to reduce delays in the data exchange process between departments.

This will improve operational efficiency and ensure seamless data interoperability, enabling faster and more accurate decision-making based on up-to-date information. 

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7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators? 

When you develop technology in the public sector, you need to build a strong foundation to ensure long-term transformation. 

Create a technology platform that humanises tech, in the sense that the technology can add value to the lives of its users and can maximise the potential of existing users to maintain the sustainability of the technology. 

For example, the platforms we build today are not owned by regulators or ministries, but by their users. 

Keeping technology solutions/products relevant in the long term by ensuring an iterative, collaborative and user-centric development process throughout the development process. This approach changes the quality of the solutions offered to be more participatory and collaborative, by including users in every process to use the platform. 

Breaking data silos is essential to support data-driven decision-making or policy. When data is integrated and analysed collectively, it can provide more relevant and comprehensive insights for decision-makers in the public sector.   

8. Who inspires you today? 

Mrs Suharti, Secretary General of the Ministry of Education is an inspiring leader. She is a civil servant with integrity, intelligence and a firm yet nurturing leader. Mrs Harti's skills as a female leader in the Ministry of Education provide fresh persperctives and breakthrough thinking that drives faster transformation.

Her experience in government has taught me that there is always a way to bring change in the right corridor. I feel fortunate to be able to witness first-hand how Mrs Harti brings this spirit of transformation even to other ministries and institutions. 

We need leaders who drive change like her, technocrats who understand the ins and outs of bureaucracy but are up to date with technology and the dynamics of the times, so that they can see innovative and creative ways to initiate and ensure that transformation can be implemented, not just jargon.