Case:Virtual Customs Office
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This case is an example from the EU Goodpractice Framework.
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Contexts
Customs was found by the Swedish Government to be at the forefront regarding service levels and the use of information technology in Swedish public services. Swedish Customs offered Swedish traders the possibility to submit electronic Customs declarations to the Customs Information System by use of EDIFACT from the beginning of the 1990´s. This strategic setup has resulted in 90% of all declarations today being submitted electronically and through automated clearance systems, 70 % of the declarations are treated within 3 minutes. Since then increased volumes of trade, more complex legislation, globalisation, new technology and tougher demands on public services have meant that new business opportunities have been identified as interesting challenges.
Swedish Customs initiated the construction of The Virtual Customs Office in order to enable Swedish traders to apply seamless electronic processes in order to experience efficient and effective foreign trade procedures. Due to the mobility in the contemporary world it was decided at an early stage to use webtechnology as the basis of the design of the Virtual Customs Office. Swedish Customs applies the bottom up perspective in order to put the focus on the client. Customers were invited at the earliest stage possible to discuss the kind of eServices and solutions desired, resulting in the overall concept of the Virtual Customs Office, providing all services delivered by a traditional office and giving added value through the use of modern technology. Currently more than 500 traders frequently use the numerous services integrated into the Virtual Customs Office.
Basic outline
Formulated Goal
Through the application of customer orientated development strategies, Swedish Customs rapidly reached the conclusion that not all customers have similar needs, competences or even prerequisites. However the Virtual Customs Office's overall objective was availability for every user and offering the same level of service at all times. The solution had to focus on availability 24/7 throughout the year and also offer eServices that would add value for the customers regardless of their level of competence and prerequisites. The challenge and short term objective was to make available services of high quality for all users of The Virtual Customs Office. The approach used was to create different segments of customers and then develop tailor-made solutions for each of the segments based on the customer feedback. Currently The Virtual Customs Office provides uniquely designed eServices for the following client groups: Frequent Traders, Infrequent Traders, Citizens, Students, Press and Media.
The long term objective for The Virtual Customs Office is to enable seamless electronic processes covering the full value chain through use of sophisticated eServices giving total mobility. In order to achieve this, tailor-made electronic and web-services according to the needs of each of the customer segments are made available for free in the areas Information, Communication, Tools and Transactions. Please refer to website for in-depth description. All objectives laid down for The Virtual Customs Office are in line with the overall vision of Electronic Customs established by Member States and the European Commission, a work in which Swedish Customs played a very active part.
Case Issues
Stakeholders
Technology
The objective to integrate electronic processes might imply complex technical solutions and previous technical knowledge on behalf of the users both external and internal. However, this has not been the case regarding the Virtual Customs Office where the need for technical skills at the user level has been kept to an absolute minimum. The three examples below will briefly describe this and in combination with [www.customs-vip.info/eGov] Swedish Customs visualises the practical use of the Virtual Customs Office. As mentioned before at a very early stage Swedish Customs adopted the concept of electronic communication using EDIFACT. This was successfully implemented. However technical development also enabled the design of an application for submitting declarations over the Internet: Swedish Customs Internet Declarations Service. By use of logical and easy to complete web forms customers are today able to submit electronic declarations. The only requirements being Internet access and registration at Swedish Customs as users. As a means of communication Swedish Customs has chosen XML format, something that in itself might seem natural due to the almost global focus on XML today, for instance UN ebXML. However the application of XML based communication within Swedish Customs has been acknowledged as innovative with the winning of the European XML Award in 2002, a benchmark that the Virtual Customs Office and all of its enablers proudly cherish. A full description and specifications may not be given here, for further information please contact the appointed contact person.
Regarding security at the earliest stage possible Swedish Customs entered into a dialogue with the customers in order to listen to their needs, desires and suggestions. It soon became evident that due to increased mobility and globalisation even small and medium-sized companies requested a solution enabling them to perform their day to day Customs business in the most flexible way possible. Of course the use of certificates and/or PKI were elements in the customer dialogue but the solution opted for by Swedish Customs focuses on flexibility and independence of time and location. A security solution has been implemented whose only requirement is that the customer should have a mobile phone and Internet access. The principles of the chosen solution is that a user of the Virtual Customs Office registers and in doing so is given the possibilities both to personalise his information-management under the concept of My Customs-Office and also to submit Customs declarations via the Internet. When logging in to My Customs Office the user receives an SMS (Short Message Service) message to his chosen mobile phone, this one usage only code must be used in order to be able to log in. The same procedure is applied when submitting Customs declarations. This is a solution naturally responding to the customer's needs for flexibility, enabling all users access to on-line Customs services regardless of when and where a customer chooses to conduct foreign trade. The only equipment necessary is that which is found in every modern society: a mobile phone and a computer with Internet-access! Full description and specifications may not be given here, for further information please visit the website.
One of the major challenges in order to provide attractive, updated and relevant eServices is to ensure information management from a publishing perspective. Many interesting initiatives have failed due to the fact that information is old, irrelevant and is in general not kept up to date. Swedish Customs therefore has appointed responsible people for every piece of information contained in the Virtual Customs Office, hence ensuring updating and maintenance of information and services provided. In order to facilitate the work of these appointed persons, great efforts have been invested in identifying and implementing easy to manage and logical tools for publishing information on the Internet. The solution selected, SiteCommander, enables persons responsible for any kind of information in the Virtual Customs Office to produce, manipulate and update relevant texts etc. by using the standard word processing software of Swedish Customs, Microsoft Word, and then by easy convergence through SiteCommander format text suitable for publishing on the Internet. The Content Management System enables persons responsible for any kind of information on The Virtual Customs Office to produce, manipulate and update relevant texts etc. This means that Swedish Customs has ensured the maintenance and updating of the contents of the Virtual Customs Office by applying information management at source, the lowest level possible, by giving personal responsibility to appointed information owners, something that guarantees updating and relevance of information contained in the Virtual Customs Office. Please acknowledge that full descriptions and specifications may not be given here, for further information please contact the appointed contact person.
Administrative context
Swedish Customs has through the application of process management come to the conclusion that the Customs process does not start or even finish within Customs. The process of foreign trade is rather complex and a number of stakeholders have an interest in the swiftness, flexibility and quality of that process. This in combination with an old Swedish public service tradition, namely that Customs is in principle the only authority present on the Swedish border, means that Swedish Customs performs numerous tasks on behalf of other public services. Naturally has lead to discussions with other public stakeholders in the foreign trade process. The result is that the Virtual Customs Office contains a number of integrated, interdepartmental eServices adding value to the overall foreign trade process for the Swedish business community. Besides the traditional Single Window solutions, such as Customs collecting Value Added Taxes on imports on behalf of the Taxation authorities, and also collecting trade statistics on behalf of Statistics Sweden, Swedish Customs has in partnership with the Board of Trade and the Board of Agriculture developed innovative eServices facilitating foreign trade regarding licenses. This means that a customer can apply for, monitor and compute given license quantities and/or values by using My Customs Office through the Virtual Customs Office, hence creating a Single Window with three public services sharing a mutual front office solution. In short, the concept will be expanded regarding the Board of Agriculture to cover an electronic process for export refunds, where information is given only once to The Virtual Customs Office and then shared in integrated back office functions of Swedish Customs and the Board of Agriculture. Through the application of true single window solutions Swedish Customs in partnership with other public stakeholders in the foreign trade process, manages to simplify procedures for the Swedish business community whilst at the same time increasing overall effectiveness and quality. For further information please contact the named contact person.
