Electronic services for the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic – assistance to citizens and entrepreneurs abroad

Assignment and its challenges

Services provided by the ministry to citizens and entrepreneurs were partially supported by isolated systems and applications, which historically emerged gradually and were adapted to current needs and possibilities. The Ministry therefore needed to create a new system to supplement and replace these applications, thus, to increase efficiency of services provided, as well as, satisfaction of citizens and entrepreneurs in resolving their life situations abroad, at the same time. The system is intended for electronical requests for provisions of relevant services, and, if a personal visit is required, to allow booking an appointment at a specific consular office, as well as booking an appointment to deal with an agenda for which digitalization has not yet taken place.

As a part of the solution, the Světobežka mobile application available for iOS and Android platforms has been created. All electronic services should be available through the MZVEZ electronic services subportal, as well as through the portal slovensko.sk.

Approach

The system is built in a modular way on the x86 platform using both Linux and Windows OS. The database is Oracle DB EE with RAC, the IP uses Biztalk. Agenda modules, the implementation of which is linked to the third parties, are integrated into these third parties - external integration partners are the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, General Prosecutor's Office of the Slovak Republic, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic and, of course, National Agency for Network and Electronic Services. Internally, ES MZVEZ SR is integrated into the IS Doklady system.

The solution is based on a modular architecture. The most frequently used modules are:

• CMS and portal,
• registration before traveling abroad,
• integration platform,
• modules of document agenda,
• module for issuing an extract from criminal record registry abroad,
• matrix agenda modules,
• booking an appointment for different agendas.

Result - benefits of the new solution

The information system developed by us brought to citizens working and living abroad 23 electronic forms to support agendas in the fields of personal documents, citizen registration, state and civil areas, business assistance and assistance to citizens in need.

The most promoted service of the ES MZVEZ SR is the Registration before a trip abroad, which gives MZVEZ SR a tool for providing assistance to citizens who get into a situation abroad when they need to apply for a consular assistance.

In the post-implementation phase of the ESMZV SR project, a hotline support has been provided 24/7/365, a development taking into account customers’ needs and legislative changes.