07.10.2011

FORS announces completion of the first stage of the e-government project in Arkhangelsk Region and the launch of the IT system into trial operation. The system was developed on Oracle platform. The project was commissioned by State Autonomous Enterprise (SAE) “The Department of Information and Communication Technologies of Arkhangelsk Region.”

FORS was chosen as a contractor based on its deep expertise in creating portals of public and municipal services on the basis of its own complex solution for forming program components for e-government on the federal and regional level. The company has successfully implemented over a dozen of such projects.

The main purpose for developing the system was to increase transparency and efficiency in providing public services as well as to ensure participation of departmental information systems in intradepartmental electronic interaction as part of the regional e-government segment. One of the tasks for the project was to create a consolidated system for receiving, registering and issuing necessary documents, to provide comfortable means of access to public services for citizens and economic entities on a single point of contact (“one window”) principle, and to minimize paper document workflow.

Igor Ivanov, Head of the Information Technologies Department of Arkhangelsk Region Government, says, “Of all public services automation projects in the region this one was not only the largest, but the most significant for us. Thanks to the experience accumulated and results achieved we’ve managed to turn the SAE into a regional competence center which can become the engine of IT development in Arkhangelsk Region. However, e-government for us means not only public services but also an opportunity to develop public and private partnerships in the field of commercial services. What is important is that automation will significantly increase the effectiveness of information exchange and help dramatically decrease the expenses for connecting new information systems and maintenance of the existing ones, and — most importantly — it will help bring the relationship between population, government and business to a new level. Social significance of the project is very high, now people have access to public services without having to leave their home and deal with queues and red tape. Their life will become easier”.

The project was started in November 2010. By the end of December technical design was completed and a prototype of the regional e-government segment was created. Testing of one of socially important services demonstrated that the informatization approach and methodology were selected correctly.

Over the first 6 months of 2011 a whole range of works related to working design, setup, adaptation and preparation for trial operation was carried out. The existing regional register of public and municipal services of Arkhangelsk Region was integrated with the technological base of the portal; system-wide, special and basic software was installed; and five priority services to be provided electronically were set up. Acceptance testing was carried out in accordance with approved schedule and methodology. All personnel involved in the project from the Customer’s side had passed training sessions on how to operate the system.

The Customer’s experts took a very active part in the project, e.g. they were largely responsible for the inspection of automation object, setting goals, testing the system as well as resolution of all organizational and technological issues.

It needs to be noted that the information system for Arkhangelsk Region e-government was developed on the basis of FORS’ proprietary portal solution duly patented and registered by the authorized government bodies. This software product uses the principles of service-oriented architecture when all requests and information flows between the suppliers and users of web services are done in XML format through a central integration bus, i.e. regional interdepartmental system of electronic interaction.

The solution has modular architecture which allows to change quickly the principle of interaction and the composition of interacting resources, and consists of three sub-systems: regional portal of public and municipal services, regional system of interdepartmental electronic interaction and the system for the fulfillment of regulations.

The key advantage of the complex solution offered by FORS is its functionality which enables the Customer to flexibly set electronic regulations by his own means, without involving professional developers. SAE specialists have successfully demonstrated their practical skills of operating the system by independently setting up over thirty electronic regulations for providing public services.

Currently, the most active phase of the system’s trial operation is underway. The Information Technologies Department of Arkhangelsk Region together with SAE and regional authorities is the in the process of completing and approving the package of normative and other regulatory documents which will allow to put the regional e-government segment into full operation and, most importantly, make relevant services available for the population. The issue regarding the connection of the regional segment to the consolidated system of interdepartmental electronic interaction is also widely discussed.

The most significant result of the project is that now in Arkhangelsk Region there exists a technological infrastructure for providing public, municipal and any other services electronically. At its current stage the system is already being used by the government authorities, public institutions, state unitary enterprises of Arkhangelsk region as well as physical and legal entities.