Single Window Systems
In the OIC Member States
88
started off with shipping documents and port procedures before being extended to import and
export licenses, customs documentation.
All Single Windows aim to go paperless but have not reached this objective yet. Morocco
gradually extends the paperless processing to all procedures. In the two other countries, there
is a de facto duplication of paper and electronic procedures in the two other Member States.
The three Member States also do not follow the same organizational model. Cameroon and the
Kyrgyz Republic have set up a public and Morocco a private enterprise. The size of the entity
varies from 90 employees in Cameroon to 13 in the Kyrgyz Republic and 22 in Morocco. The IT
development has been fully outsourced in Morocco and the Kyrgyz Republic and partially in
Cameroon.
In all three countries, the investment for the first and second-generation Single Window IT
platforms is provided by public sources, including external partners. The operational expenses
of the Cameroon and the Kyrgyz Republic Single Windows are also funded by the regular
government budget. The Moroccan Single Window is financially sustainable and can cover
operational expenses from the fees (an annual subscription and a transaction fee).
The initial IT architecture varies from a centralized to decentralized architecture, but in all three
cases the architecture lacked flexibility and cost effectiveness to follow the planned expansion
and interoperability of the Single Windows.
Notably only PortNet has a transparent and publicly available performance measurement
covering processing times, user numbers and project achievements.
4.4.2. Challenges
The three case studies reveal typical and common challenges for Single Window projects.
One weakness of all three SW is the lack of in depth business process analysis and datamodelling
prior to the development of the Single Window.
 In the Kyrgyz Republic the simplification and re-engineering of the business processes
were pushed to the second phase.
 In Cameroon business process were integrated in an ad hoc manner lacking an overall
strategy and coherent business process view.
 In Morocco the interoperability of the systemwas limited because of a lack of a common
data and application layer. Such an approach leads to sub-optimal designs that do not
deliver the full advantages of single data entry and simplified processing.
This weakness was aggravated by the IT architecture choices that led to inflexible systems that
were expensive to maintain and update.
 In the Kyrgyz Republic the current IT architecture design as a centralized architecture
is not flexible enough to support additional service developments and data
management. The SW IT architecture is not efficient and cost-effective as maintaining