ITSD project team wins Customer Service Award
27 - 01 - 2000

An Information Technology Services Department (ITSD) project team whose system speeds up air cargo clearance has won a government customer service award today (Thursday).

The Air Cargo Clearance System (ACCS) designed for the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) has brought new levels of efficiency and productivity to both C&ED and the air cargo industry by enabling the cargo clearance process to start before flights arrive.

The ACCS project team has been awarded the Excellence Award of the Internal Support Service category of the 1999 Civil Service Customer Service Award Scheme.

The Civil Service Customer Service Award Scheme was launched by the Civil Service Bureau to give recognition and commendation to civil servants providing exemplary customer-oriented services to their customers.

The ACCS was designed and implemented by the project team to assist C&ED in implementing the government strategy of better facilitating trade in Hong Kong by introducing multiple cargo operators in the Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok (CLK).

Following the implementation of the ACCS, flights can make use of the pre-arrival facility provided by the system, enabling C&ED to maximise the clearance window, to streamline the clearance process and to better deploy Customs resources.

The ACCS project team was nominated for the Award as the team exemplifies how ITSD meets its mission of promoting extensive adoption of information technology (IT) in the Government, and enabling business and Government to interact easily and securely through the use of IT.

The user department and the air cargo industry have highly appreciated and praised the project team's customer-oriented service as well as the system they developed.

Speaking after the award presentation ceremony, the head of the project team, Senior Systems Manager Mrs Maria Yick, said that the team had provided a total solution to their user department.

"We have studied C&ED's and the air cargo industry's business requirements, the feasibility of meeting such requirements using IT, and have estimated the cost and benefits before designing the ACCS," said Mrs Yick.

"The team is also responsible for building the IT infrastructure in CLK and the IT applications running on this infrastructure, culminating in the delivery of a highly available and secure service.

"As the ACCS enables consignment clearance time in CLK to be reduced on average by two hours, the air cargo operators describe it as 'an instrument in maximising value for air transport delivery customers'," said Mrs Yick.

The system was implemented in three phases. Phase I was implemented for the opening of the CLK airport in July 1998. Phase II was implemented in July 1999, while the final Phase will be in place next month (February).

Since July 1998, the team has been providing to C&ED an on-going maintenance support services on 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis.

The team also constantly liaises with the users to review the performance of the ACCS and the need for new features.

Mrs Yick recalled that the ACCS project team had been constrained by the tight time schedule, the slippage of the building programme and the hostile environment in CLK during the development of the system.

"The ACCS was termed 'Mission Impossible' during the development stage, but we have subsequently overcome all the difficulties and succeeded in delivering the ACCS Phase I in time," said Mrs Yick.

"All the team members are very happy that their working attitude, job commitment and efforts made are recognised," she added.

She attributed the successful delivery of Phase I of the system to the appropriate risk management, the consolidated effort of C&ED, the air cargo industry and ITSD, as well as the team's professionalism.

Also attending the presentation ceremony, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Lau Kam-hung, said, "The Award exemplifies the professional standards achieved by the whole department."

"The ACCS is a major time critical project that involved the provision of a service to an industry that contributes so much to the economy of Hong Kong.

"The service provided in the ACCS is one of the examples of how we achieve our mission of promoting and enabling extensive adoption and use of IT in the Government with professionalism and customer-oriented service," said Mr Lau.

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