The adoption of SOA and service-orientation is part of the IT strategy of most eCustoms stakeholders (and singularly DG TAXUD as stated in the MASP) in the support to a better alignment to business requirements, to a better effort-sharing and collaboration, to increased flexibility and consistency, as well as to reduced time-to-market and total cost-of-ownership. However, adopting SOA is not a one-day journey. Such an initiative often implies cultural changes and governance adjustments in respect with the social and power structure of the organisation. Vivansa has been involved early in the application of SOA principles and methodologies, especially in the customs business domain, and can help you in the consistent and progressive adoption of SOA. Defining service inventories and service contracts is a key strategic activity that requires more than IT skills. It should be part of an Enterprise Architecture that federates all actors around common objectives targeting added business values.

As “interoperability” is a key concept in a so complex and dynamic environment such as the Customs Union, the way the information is exchanged between stakeholders is the cornerstone of the efficient application of information technologies as targeted by the UCC. Data is probably the most important asset of any organization and mastering its governance is a key strategic requirement. In addition, the unavoidable proliferation of interfaces between stakeholders requires a common understanding of the semantic (i.e. the meaning) and syntaxes (i.e. the languages) of the pieces of exchanged information. While data harmonization is considered as a facilitator, the unavoidable diversity of requirements and cultural contexts must be also addressed by adopting modern and flexible data modeling and governing practices. Vivansa has been involved in the definition and the maintenance of the EU Customs Data Model (or EU CDM, aligned on the WCO DM using the GEFEG’s tooling) and can help you to apply it as a reference for your specific developments. Moreover, Vivansa also focus on the application of big data and semantic web technologies as vectors to innovations in this context.

One of the strategic objectives of the UCC is to facilitate trade by establishing new trusted relationships between the economic operators and the customs authorities as well as by legally applying information technologies to automate and accelerate the business processes. Vivansa usually offers its services to customs authorities (concerned by the customs procedures) as well as to economic operators (concerned by the supply chain management). While both communities have different concerns, they should benefit from a join definition of electronic facilities to efficiently realize their respective objectives. Vivansa can help you to better understand what could be added to the legal obligations in terms of electronic services to achieve a valuable and modern IT landscape that could be also a source of revenue.

Vivansa is constantly involved in DG TAXUD IT projects for years and has acquired the ability to develop ready-to-use IT solution building blocks that answer specific business needs relating to eCustoms. Rather than offering a hypothetical global solution for the UCC implementation, we are applying best practices, such as service-orientation and its design principles, to offer granular and intrinsically interoperable components to flexibly compose business-driven IT solutions within specific environments. Most of the time, Vivansa has developed such components in collaboration with some stakeholders before to offer them to others under the form of ready-to-compose software assets. You can consider it as a toolbox applicable in the realisation of your IT transformations and complementing how Vivansa can help you to achieve them.