Single Window Systems
In the OIC Member States
48
 Engagement and adherence of stakeholders, including end-users, during the project
development phase. A Single Window is a deep organisational transformation and
requires changes of the daily practice of technical staff and administrative instructions;
 Business Process simplification and reengineering so that the Single Window does not
replicate the web of complex and overlapping trade regulations and formalities but
operates in a streamlined and simplified environment;
 Interoperability on the data and business level that enables the Single Window to
exchange data with external system and offer extended end-to-end services.
International standards are necessary to achieve interoperability;
 Common process design. Scaling and improvements are difficult without proper tools to
continuously monitor changes at the business and service level. Each of the Single
Window stakeholders follows its own regulatory and standard operational procedures
and regulatory requirements and it is challenging to map all of them and identify
opportunities for process simplification and reengineering. Not capturing this
complexity at the early design stage can turn into wicked problems that explode the
timeframe, budget and resources, or are impossible to address. Common process design
or business architecture is therefore a necessary tool for Single Window. It assists in the
design of simplified business processes and re-use of IT services and processes for
business processes that have similar requirements. It is therefore an efficient way to
adapt faster and in a more cost effective manner to changing needs.
2.5.2. Best Practices
The Singapore, Ghana and Czech Republic Single Window efforts can inspire other Single
Window developments. The best practices are:
Singapore TradeNet Best Practices
The main success of TradeNet lies in the Singaporean Government’s foresight in identifying the
problems, finding a solution and championing the implementation. The close cooperation of all
the stakeholders, the systematic planning with a phased implementation strategy, and the
adoption and use of appropriate technology all contributed to the success of the SW. Specific
aspects of the Singapore Single Window experience are:
 Rule-based risk management: over 95% of the requests for permits and certificates are
automatically approved; only 5% require human intervention. After introducing Single
Window in Singapore, the time to process trade documents was reduced from four days
to few minutes.
 Strong commitment of the highest level of government, dedicated committee, and
working group (multi-stakeholder committees and subcommittees), participation of the
private sector, multiphase implementation, education, continuous training and change
management, and a proper legal framework.
 The costs of building and running TradeNet are quite high (ninety-five percent of
resources for investing in people with only five percent in IT system). The Singaporean
government injected significant resources to build TradeNet and implemented an