On 3 October (11 Mehr) the Iranian news agency ANA published a report asking how close Iran's smart-government programme is to the targets in the Seventh Development Plan. One pair of numbers stands out: about 98% of the agencies required to join the national government services window are connected, but only 23.7% of services are "smart" (figures announced in summer 2026, as reported by ANA). The plan's target for the end of the last Iranian year was 40%, which leaves a gap of 16.3 percentage points.
In plain terms, almost every agency is plugged into the window, but most services still are not "smart" in the legal sense, meaning they still can't be completed without going to an office in person. The gap is not in the connection. It sits behind the window, inside each agency.
The numbers up close
ANA also cites the Majlis Research Center's review of the plan's first year. As reported by ANA:
- Of 3,505 services that could be connected, 2,127 were reported as connected, and only 780 were delivered as smart services after sign-off by the oversight committee.
- 28 agencies offered none of their eligible services in smart form.
- Of about 1.1 billion transactions (March 2024 to May 2025), about 23.6 million, close to 2%, failed because the agency's system behind the window did not respond correctly.
Anyone who runs IT for an organisation will recognise that last figure. The front door accepted the request, the back-end system didn't answer properly, the citizen saw an error, and the usual result is the office visit the service was meant to remove.
Why connected is not the same as smart
Joining the national window means an API or a login link. A smart service means the case moves from submission to answer without anyone coming in to sign or to chase it. In the agencies and universities we have worked with, the work tends to stall in the same places:
- The request arrives but has no owner. The online form lands in a shared inbox and nobody knows who must answer.
- There is no deadline. Without a response time per request type, nobody can tell which case is late.
- The applicant can't see the status. If people can't see where their case is, they phone or walk in.
- Documents are asked for twice. Data another agency already holds is collected again because the systems don't talk.
- Hand-offs between units happen by hand. Referrals go by letter or messenger app and leave no trace in any system.
None of these is solved by another connection. It is the same problem we described in departments that still run on phone calls: no trackable workflow behind the form.
A one-week test for your own agency
Pick your five most frequent services. File one test request for each and follow it using only the system. Write down who picked it up, how many hours later, where it waited, and whether anyone had to phone or come in. Where the answer is yes, that service is not smart yet, even if it shows green on the national window.
If users still sign in with separate accounts, connecting your system to the Dolat-e Man single sign-on is a small step that also cuts "forgot password" visits.
Where FanServe fits
FanServe is Fanpino's single service window for organisations. Each group (members, staff, departments) gets its own request catalogue, every request becomes a ticket with an owner, a status and an SLA deadline, and the applicant can see where the case is. It runs on the FanDesk engine and handles academic, student, research and welfare requests at a public university. It does not replace the national window; it is the back-office layer that gets the service finished without an office visit. See FanServe.
Frequently asked questions
What does a "smart" service mean in the Seventh Plan?
As reported by ANA, Article 107 of the plan requires agencies to deliver at least 20% of their electronic services each year in smart form, with no in-person visit.
What share of Iranian government services is smart today?
23.7%, according to the summer 2026 figure reported by ANA, against a 40% target for the end of the last Iranian year.
If we are connected to the national window, are we done?
No. The connection only unifies the front door. Until every request has an owner, a deadline and a visible status, some services will still end in an office visit.
Where should we start?
With your five most frequent services. File a test request for each and note every point where the work falls back to a phone call or a visit. That list is your priority order.
