Seoul City Apartment Electronic Approval Platform 'S-APT' Wins Minister of Science and ICT Award

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 23rd that S-APT received the Minister of Science and ICT Award at the '2020 Electronic Document Merit Awards.'

S-APT is an online integrated platform that enables non-face-to-face and online electronic approval for resident decision-making within apartments, transparently discloses the contents, and provides immediate information in case of disaster situations.

The award ceremony was held online via live streaming on the KISA YouTube platform on the 11th, which is the ‘Electronic Document Industry Day.’

Seoul explained, "The establishment of S-APT contributed to the development and expansion of the electronic document industry in Korea, and it received the Minister of Science and ICT Award for its pioneering role in introducing electronic approval to multi-family housing for the first time nationwide."

This year, S-APT achieved a triple crown by winning the Minister of Science and ICT Award, the Seoul Creativity Award (Excellence Award), and the Seoul Together Practice Award.

As of December, 1,185 apartment complexes across 25 autonomous districts are using S-APT. This exceeds half of the 2,223 apartment complexes subject to mandatory management. Initially, the goal was to pilot 125 complexes starting in the second half of this year, but this target was exceeded ninefold. Considering that from January next year, all apartments subject to mandatory management must use S-APT, it is expected that early settlement will proceed smoothly thanks to active public response and expectations.

Despite the COVID-19 situation, the rapid increase in applications for S-APT usage is attributed to the selection of Seocho-gu as a pilot district to provide proactive experience, active close-to-life promotion through various media, visiting briefings, one-on-one face-to-face training, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s free distribution of S-APT.

The manager of an apartment complex in Gangseo-gu said, “When we started using the S-APT system in September, it was difficult because we did not fully understand electronic approval, but now it is convenient as we can submit and approve electronically, add or modify approval lines, and view approval documents.”

The manager of an apartment complex in Eunpyeong-gu said, “Official documents sent by fax from the district office are scanned and attached to the approval document body for approval, and if a document distribution system is implemented, it would be very convenient to use. The S-APT system seems easy to operate and designed to allow document viewing even on PCs with low monitor resolution.”

To ensure early settlement of the service, Seoul held an educational briefing session for apartment housing officers from 25 autonomous districts last September and regularly holds user training for management office staff, which is expected to greatly help secure system stability and identify and improve issues in advance.

The head of the Housing and Architecture Headquarters of Seoul said, “Due to COVID-19, the non-face-to-face electronic approval-based S-APT platform is needed more than ever. With the introduction of the S-APT platform, we will achieve the completion of making Seoul’s apartments clean through smart innovation in apartment management. Also, 2021 will be a year when S-APT does not settle for the present but takes the first step toward a new beginning.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.