Joseph M. Mwangala

1
ASYCUDA World Implementation at Uganda Revenue
Authority
By Joseph M. Mwangala Project Manager - CBSEP
2
Introduction

• ASYCUDA World is implemented by the Customs
  Business Systems Enhancement Project (CBSEP), one
  of the projects under the Managing Compliance
  Program (MCP).
• ASYCUDA World implementation at Uganda Revenue
  Authority (URA) started in August 2011 by the
  appointment of the National Project Team (CBSEP).
• In addition to the implementation of ASYCUDA
  World, the project team is also charged with
  implementing the following components
• Business Processes Review and Reengineering
• The National Authorized Economic Operator Program
• The Electronic Cargo Tracking System
• Capacity Building
• The project team responsible for ASYCUDA WORLD
  has 21 (16 Business and 5 IT) full time members
  headed by a Project Manager

3
Introduction

• The project is Supported by a Customs Advisors
  and IT Consultant from UNCTAD
• The project is Funded by Trademark East Africa
  (TMEA) and the Government of Uganda
• The Project activities started in earnest in
  November, 2011 with the signing of the
  implementation agreement between URA and UNCTAD.
• A phased approach was adopted for the
  implementation of ASYCUDA World.

4
Project Status

• National Project Team trained in Asycuda World
  Functional and Technical (March, April 2012)
• UNCTAD Advisors Arrive Uganda (June/July 2012)
• ASYCUDA World Servers procured and installed at
  the Data Center (August 2012)
• ASYCUDA World was piloted at JINJA Customs
  station, an inland Customs station, starting on
  the 26th November, 2012 until March 2013.
• The pilot strategy involved having all the
  transits to Jinja from the 4 key border stations
  (Malaba, Busia, Katuna and Mutukula) done in
  ASYCUDA World and the transits between those
  stations.

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Asycuda World Pilot Strategy
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The National Rollout

• The National rollout was phased as below

PHASE OFFICE(S) OF DECLARATIONS DATES
PHASE 1   Entebbe (CAPT Cargo) 8 8/4/2013 24/5/2013 (6 weeks)
PHASE 2   Malaba, Busia, Mbale, Lwakhakha, Suam River, Katuna , Mutukula. 57 27/5/2013 28/6/2013 (5 weeks)
PHASE 3 Kampala 28 15/07/2013 06/09/2013 (8 weeks)
PHASE 4   Bunagana, Busunga, Cyanika, Mirama Hills, Kikagati, Kamwezi, Oraba,Vurra, Elegu, Arua, Goli, Paidha, Busitema, Kona Kamdin, Pakwach, Koboko, Lia, Lokung, Madi-Opei, Mbarara, Moyo, Mpondwe, Ntoroko, Kasese, Ishasha, Butiaba 7 16/09/2013 31/12/2013 (14 weeks)  
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Lessons learnt

• The importance of continuous stakeholder
  engagement
• The importance of investing in good network
  connectivity infrastructure
• There is need to assess the existing equipment
  infrastructure and document all required inputs
  prior to project kick off. Realised late the need
  for extra computers, scanners country-wide!
• Procurement of all required inputs need to be
  started way ahead of implementation. We are yet
  to conclude the procurement of soClass licenses!
• There is need for upfront preparations
• finances
• Publicity and sensitization
• Training

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Challenges

• Data Migration from A
• Network - intermittent and inadequate
  connectivity
• The need for stakeholders to procure computers
  reliable network equipment for their offices
• The continued use of DTIs by our clearing agents
  due to lack of resources
• Change of staff mindsets
• Project team skills/capacity e.g. mapping
  processes, reforming customs!
• Installed/Implemented AW Asycuda World as is,
  before conclusion of the BPR process. Need
  technical assistance to get this done properly.
• OGA capacity to meet the clearance requirements -
  in terms of hardware and staff

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ICT and Facilities Requirements

• What kind of technical expertise in Information
  Technology IT is needed?
• Practical experience in Software development
  using Java
• Knowledge in database management
• Knowledge in implementing web services in Java
• What are the types of new facilities needed?
• In addition to the live server upon which Asycuda
  world runs, the following are needed
• A Test server is needed to test all modules
  before deployment to the live server
• A development server is needed for ode version
  management and developer testing of the new
  modules.

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ICT and Facilities Requirements

• What are the requirements of ICT connectivity and
  hardware upgrades?
• From our experience, an 8 MB internet connection
  is sufficient for the Asycuda world server side.
  
• Clients accessing the service externally require
  a network connection with a minimum of 128 Kbps

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Legislation requirements

• Part XVI of the East African Community Customs
  Management Act, 2004 provides for the Application
  of IT in carrying out Customs formalities or
  procedures.
• There are no legal instruments governing the
  interaction between OGAs and customs. We intend
  to rely on MoUs between the semi-autonomous
  government bodies

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Management and Training Support

• Projects at URA are coordinated and supported by
  a Program Management Office under the MCP.
• Projects are headed by a Project Owner (PO) The
  Commissioner Customs is the PO for the CBSEP
• Project staff are fully dedicated project team
  (business and IT) to manage the project
• The PMO manages and coordinates the capacity
  building activities
• Also funds general project management trainings

13
Stakeholder engagement

• The Project Change Team together with the
  Corporate Change Team and the Public and
  Corporate Affairs communication team, carried out
  stakeholder mapping and holds
• awareness seminars
• Sensitizations
• radio and TV talk shows
• use of social media facebook, twitter, etc
• to sensitize stakeholders about the project

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Financing Requirements

• What is the financing required for investment in
  new hardware, connectivity, telecoms upgrades?
• From URA experience 3.56 Million USD was required
  for hardware and licenses for both the primary
  and disaster recovery sites
• Network infrastructure in existence has a
  recurring cost 1M USD per Year with a standing
  backup link of the similar capacity and cost.
• What is the cost of running the program?
• The 3 year activities to cost about USD 7.9
  Million
• BPR - 0.083
• Asycuda World - 1.930
• Capacity Building - 0.549
• Document Processing Center - 1.268
• National Targeting Center - 0.215
• Hardware/equipment - 3.868

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eSW related functionalities

• We have targeted OGAs who play a key part in
  trade facilitation at the borders. These
  include
• Uganda National Bureau of Standards
• Uganda Coffee Development Authority
• National Drugs Authority
• Ministry of Agriculture
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Currently piloting with 2 OGAs UNBS and UCDA
• The OGAs have set their own selectivity criteria

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Q A

The end!