Single+Window+Implementation

//The establishment of a Single Window (SW) is a major political reform project. Contrary to common understanding, it is not foremost an IT project. It is a change management project that encompasses multiple agencies and other partners, and involves some form of business process re-design, document simplification and data harmonization. The duration from the initial idea to the actual functioning of a SW can be long as the project includes several implementation phases.// =Individual aspects of the implementation= Individual aspects of the implementation include, policy planning, setting the legal and institutional frameworks, undertaking a business process analysis, simplifying trade documents, organizing the data harmonization for the Single Window, and managing the project, as shown in Figure 3. This is a multi-year incremental project. A successful undertaking also requires strong business-government cooperation.

Figure 3 – SW Step by Step approach // Source: UNECE- UN/CEFACT //

Policy planning
The establishment of a Single Window system is a complex political reform project. While it is well recognized as an enabling tool for easing trade across borders, policy makers will face many obstacles when transforming the vision and goals of the SW into reality. Several such challenges are shown in Figure 4, and concern both technological issues and areas such as political support, long-term commitment from top management, a reliable institutional platform for inter-agency collaboration, effective management of stakeholders’ expectations and perceptions, workable business procedures, architectural models, data and business interoperability, laws and regulations, and financial issues. Policy makers and managers need a strategic and holistic framework that helps them to systematically address such challenges and to effectively manage the SW project. ** Tools: ** This process needs careful steering. The __ UNECE Recommendation No. 33 __ provides useful guidance, in particular with regards to organizing the preparatory work. It introduces the various policy documents that may have to be developed and provides further details on their content. Volume 1 of the __ WCO Single Window Compendium __ also introduces the various aspects to be considered in policy and project management. __ UNECE Recommendation No. 4 __ __ and Recommendation No. 18 __outline the framework for the necessary trade-government collaboration. Figure 4. - Complicated Challenges in Single Window Planning and Implementation Source: UNNExT SW project Implementation Guide ** Legal and institutional aspects ** National exchange of trade data amongst the participating parties of an SW requires a legal framework that defines the conditions of, amongst others, the electronic submission of documents, electronic signatures, user authentication, data sharing and data archiving. __ UNECE Recommendation No. 35 __and the __ WCO Single Window Compendium __ identify the following legal issues that arise with an SW implementation: Legal issues also relate to the operation of an SW. These include setting up the legal authority for the operation of the SW, defining the legal basis of agency cooperation through, for example MOUs amongst the participating agencies, and defining dispute resolution between the SW parties. The __ Thai National Single Window project __ offers a good example of a successful interagency collaboration framework. = Business Process Analysis = The establishment of a Single Window for Trade requires the design of new services and changes to agencies' and other stakeholders' business processes. Undertaking a Business Process Analysis (BPA) is useful tool for the design of a Single Window. It allows all parties involved in the reform effort to gain a better understanding of the documentary, procedural and operational aspects of international trade transactions. In particular, it tells them how business processes are carried out, how business processes relate to one another, who is responsible for creating them, and what documents, rules and regulations are involved and how this information flows. ** Tools ** : the BPA chapter of this Guide, the, and the chapter on BPA in the UNNEXT Guide on the SW Implementation Framework (SWIF) _provide useful guidance. =Document simplification, data harmonization and cross border information exchange= Full-scale Single Window operation involves information sharing, integration and exchange among stakeholders of the international supply chain. In order to ensure inter-operability, each SW component has to follow common rules that govern data element names, their meanings, their representations, and the structure of electronic messages. Ideally they should use a single set of generic semantic rules or data model. Data harmonization can be conducted as a sub-project of the SW project. In order to achieve data inter-operability, a number of international standards and tools are necessary. UNECE and its Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and other organizations, such as the WCO, have produced key standards for this component of an SW project, including:
 * privacy and data protection issues;
 * sharing of access to data and sharing of data amongst agencies;
 * liability issues;
 * data quality;
 * electronic documents and archiving; and
 * identification, authentication and authorization.
 * Tools: ** __ UNECE Recommendation No 35 __ and its checklist provide guidance for analysis of the current legal framework and necessary changes . UNCITRAL has developed significant supporting legislative texts comprising the __ UNCITRAL Model Law Electronic Commerce __ (1996), the __ Model Law on Electronic Signatures __ (2001), the __ UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts __ (2005), and a Guidance Text on the International Use of Authentication & Signature Methods. UNNExT also provides a [|Legal Guide for Electronic Single Window and Paperless Trade]
 * the UN Layout Key to align documents to international standards;
 * the UN Trade Data Elements Directory (UNTDED) and the UN Core Component Technical Specifications (UNCCTS) to define data using standard semantics;
 * codes for trade data, including the LOCODE, codes for means of transport, codes for payment terms, etc.;
 * data models to develop applications needed for data inter-operability across platforms and to design electronic documents such as the UN Core Component Library (UNCCL) and the WCO Data Model; and
 * standardization of the structure of electronic documents and messages, such as UN XML NDR, EDIFACT MIGs, WCO EDIFACT MIG/XML schemas.

** Tools ** : __ UNECE Recommendation 34 __ provides a step-by-step approach to data harmonization that can be implemented by a national team of experts. This Guide introduces the above-listed standards and tools in the __ e-Business solutions __ domain as well as in the itinerary for __ Rationalizing documents and data requirements __. The __ UNNExT Guide on Design of Aligned Trade Forms __ and the UNNExT Data Harmonization and Modelling Guide is also a useful reference for this phase of the implementation process. Next:  The Single Window Implementation Framework (SWIF)