Romania | Public and government organisations

Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs

2002: On-line Visa processing system

The transition to the Information Society is a strategic objective for the Romanian government, which regards information technology as a valuable instrument for increasing the effectiveness of public services, thus improving the relationship with the citizens and advancing the democratic process.

The challenge

Based on an EU PHARE support program aimed at helping Romania qualify for EU membership, this project is aimed at procuring IT and communication equipment for the implementation of the pilot phase of the Romanian on-line visa processing system. The provider had to deliver equipment to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Aliens and Migration Issues Directorate of the Romanian Ministry of Interior.

The project

The solution delivered by S&T is largely based on such components as high-performance IBM cluster servers that provide the enormous amount of computer power required for such complex applications. Oracle Enterprise 9i database application software, Microsoft-based server software and other peripheral devices such as routers, switches and CISCO equipment were also provided for the critical communications network.

The visa application system will assist in data collecting, centralizing and processing and will ensure data integrity, as well as in the issuing of specific documents according to the requirements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (e.g. visa sticker, statistics or other reporting formats).

The most important benefits of this solution are:

  • The possibility of using minimal equipped computers at the end-user level, the so called "clients" of the application;
  • The absence of the risks involved when using different versions of client-programs due to the fact that any new version of these programs is installed only at the central level and becomes immediately available to any client station. The station launches remote running sessions of the same software application;
  • The client stations are managed at the central unit by using dedicated software modules installed on every client station, with no human assistance at the remote client operator;
  • The absence of the file servers (database servers) at the remote locations leads to a relative lower initial cost of the total investment.

Under the terms of the contract, S&T Romania provided the complete range of professional services: IT solution design, software module development, project management, equipment installation and testing, help-desk services and on-site training of personnel.