Case Study | AI Riyadh
Transforming Executive Administration - The AlRiyadh Secretariat Digital Platform
End-to-End Product Discovery, User-Centric Web Development, and Seamless Deployment for the Office of His Highness Secretary, Riyadh
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Commissioned by the Office of His Highness Secretary, Riyadh, the AI Riyadh Digital Engagement Platform is a purpose-built digital ecosystem powering event management, organizational communication, and task coordination within the Kingdom’s highest administrative offices. Our team delivered an end-to-end platform combining natively bilingual (Arabic–English) applications, a robust, accessibility-compliant CMS, cloud-native infrastructure, and centralized IAM—establishing AI Riyadh as the digital nerve centre for elite governmental operations.
The Engineering Impact
AIRiyadh elevates secure digital governance with better uptime, productivity, and engagement.
Platform Reliability & Accessibility Excellence
Cloud-native infrastructure and DevOps automation ensure 99.99% uptime, even under heavy demand. Fully bilingual and 100% WCAG 2.1 AA compliant, AIRiyadh removes all access barriers, guaranteeing seamless, inclusive service.
Workflow Automation & Productivity Gains
Centralized CMS and automation reduced manual publishing by 92%, streamlining content operations. Real-time dashboards tripled content throughput and accelerated approvals, enabling rapid event execution.
Security, Auditability, & Communications
With end-to-end security, encryption, and monitoring, AIRiyadh meets Saudi cybersecurity compliance. Immutable audit trails and real-time alerts drove a 60% increase in engagement, reinforcing trust in the platform.
The Challenge
The Office of His Highness Secretary required a modern, secure, and highly accessible platform to support high-profile event orchestration, digital archiving, and real-time coordination across multiple directorates. Key challenges included:
- Fragmented Systems: Legacy tools for events, meetings, and media storage lacked integration, reducing visibility and effectiveness.
- Bilingual & Right-to-Left Support: Critical need for 100% native Arabic and English functionality, including seamless right-to-left user interface adaptation.
- Manual, Error-Prone Workflows: No centralized CMS for multi-role, multilingual content management created inefficiencies and delays.
- Inadequate Accessibility Compliance: Previous solutions did not meet WCAG 2.1 standards—excluding key stakeholders and presenting organizational risk.
- No Centralized Identity & Access Control: Siloed platforms lacked secure SSO, RBAC, and auditability—creating operational and security vulnerabilities.
- Limited Mobile Access: End-users required secure, offline-capable mobile apps for in-field decision-making and engagement, which the existing stack could not deliver.
The Objective
The strategic mandate was to deliver a scalable, compliant digital ecosystem with the following core capabilities:
- Native, Bilingual Experience: Launch fully branded mobile and desktop apps optimized for both Arabic (RTL) and English usage.
- WCAG 2.1 Accessibility: Ensure the entire platform—UI, content, and workflows—meet or exceed the highest accessibility benchmarks.
- Centralized, Role-based CMS: Provide an intuitive, secure CMS for non-technical users to author, translate, and publish content in both languages.
- Modern IAM Architecture: Implement secure, SAML 2.0/OIDC-based SSO, granular RBAC, and advanced audit logging for all users and administrators.
- API-Driven Integrations: Enable interoperability with legacy systems and third-party platforms (event management, email, tasking, media storage).
- Real-time Notification Engines: Facilitate push alerts, automated communications, and analytics across all digital touchpoints.
- Robust Security and Compliance: Design to Saudi cyber standards, WCAG 2.1, data retention, and resilience requirements.
The Solution
We designed and launched a modular digital ecosystem covering every operational layer:
1. Web Application
- Developed in React: Supporting fully offline access, instant push alerts, and device-level security.
- Native Bilingual UX: All content and interfaces deliver seamless experience in Arabic (right-to-left) and English (left-to-right), with real-time translation workflows.
- Accessibility-First Design: Meets full WCAG 2.1 AA standards; includes screen reader support, configurable contrast/magnification, and keyboard navigation.
- Custom Modules: Event scheduling, RSVP workflows, secure document/media browsing, and live task/meeting updates.
2. Backend & Infrastructure
- Cloud-Native, Kubernetes-Orchestrated: Containerized microservices on Saudi-based cloud providers, ensuring data residency and high availability.
- RESTful & Event-Driven APIs: Enabling secure integration with internal and third-party systems.
- Encrypted Datastore: PostgreSQL clusters with managed backups and active geo-redundancy.
3. Content Management System (CMS)
- Role-Based Workflows: Author, Editor, Reviewer, and Admin access with customizable review and approval pipelines.
- Versioning & Rollback: Full auditability, content scheduling, and multi-language publishing support.
- Real-Time Dashboard: Empowering non-technical staff to manage, tag, and deploy content instantly in both Arabic and English.
4. Security, Compliance & Data Governance
- Encryption: TLS 1.3 for all in-transit data, AES-256 encryption at rest.
- Compliance: Full alignment with Saudi cybersecurity regulations and WCAG 2.1.
- Pen Testing & Patch Lifecycle: Quarterly penetration tests, continuous vulnerability assessments, and automated patch deployment.
- Audit & Retention: Immutable audit logs, real-time usage monitoring, and policy-based data retention/archiving.
5. Identity & Access Management
- Centralized IdP Integration: Secure SSO via SAML 2.0/OIDC, enabling federated user authentication across departments.
- Fine-Grained RBAC: Dynamic permission sets for all user roles—ensuring least privilege and operational safety.
- Session Monitoring & PAM: Real-time tracking, privileged access workflows, and emergency “break-glass” controls.
6. DevOps & CI/CD
- Automated Pipelines: GitHub Actions for builds, testing, automated deployment.
- Container Orchestration: Kubernetes horizontal scaling to instantly support high-traffic, high-stakes events.
- Comprehensive Monitoring: Centralized dashboards with real-time uptime tracking and auto-healing capabilities.
The Impact
- Seamless right-to-left and left-to-right interface delivery, empowering full participation by both Arabic- and English-speaking stakeholders.
- Zero accessibility gaps: All platform modules passed independent WCAG 2.1 audits; 100% inclusion for staff and special needs participants.
- Operational resilience: 99.99% uptime during priority events, with auto-scale cloud infrastructure and multi-region failover.
- Dramatic workflow improvements: 92% reduction in manual content publishing and event scheduling time.
- End-to-end auditability: Centralized IAM ensures all user actions are logged, supporting regulatory compliance and internal audits.
- Unified communications: Real-time push notifications, email automation, and mobile alerts streamlined engagement at every event.
- Platform now serves as the singular digital engagement hub for the Office of His Highness Secretary, advancing Riyadh’s reputation for e-government innovation and digital excellence.
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