Immigration on IT mission
The Immigration Department, backed by a new entry-exit processing and record system, will make big push over the next 12 months to step up work on the ambitious, six-year revamp of its ageing information technology networks.
The department's updated Information Systems Strategy project (ISS-2) is slated for completion by 2007 to meet Hong Kong's growing immigration workload and to enhance security.
'IT has always been mission-critical for our department,' said Raymond Wong Wai-man, assistant immigration director for information systems.
'We are moving on track to complete all of the projects under ISS-2.'
This comprises 30 multimillion-dollar projects that would enable the department to provide higher quality public services and ensure these are delivered efficiently at a lower cost.
Without new and improved IT networks in place, the department estimated it would need to create 701 additional posts by 2005-2006 - at a cost of US$33.6.million - just to keep up with its 8.83 per cent annual workload growth rate.
Data from the Government Logistics Department shows that major immigration-related IT investments over the next year include new hardware, software and services for the biometric Hong Kong SAR passport and enhanced travel document information system, the advanced passenger information system, artificial intelligence system for case investigation, and the automated passenger clearance (APC) and automated vehicle clearance (AVC) systems for the Shenzhen Western Corridor Project.
The first batch of ISS-2 projects under the 'IT infrastructure upgrade' umbrella was deployed last year. This involved the installation of new computer hardware and software to lay the foundation for various new applications required by the department.
In July last year, IBM completed building the department's vital entry-exit processing and recording system, called 'Express', at a cost of about $300million. Work started in November 2002.
The Express replaced the old Iimigration control automation system, which had been in use since 1995.
'IBM needed to cope with three critical factors on this project: limited time, high quality expectations and resource constraints,' Mr Wong said. 'They were very professional in this regard. They knew their job and what they needed to do ... This deployment had to be 100 per cent transparent to the public.'
Although the department said processing time at Hong Kong's borders had visibly improved since Express was deployed, it was still studying the quantifiable benefits of the new system.
The IBM-developed Express was able to address the need for new functions, particularly when the individual visit scheme for visitors from the mainland was expanded to about 32 cities last year.
Immigration authorities handle an average of 490,000 visitors or returning residents each day at their 10 control points situated at Hong Kong's boundary, ports and airport. More than 10,000 of these are new applicants at the department's headquarters and branch offices.
Last year, the department processed 181.5 million passengers arriving by air, land and sea.
The APC system, which supports self-service immigration clearance by Hong Kong permanent residents with smart identity cards, started phased implementation last December. The AVC system is being implemented in phases this year.
The Immigration Department expects to increase the number of APC electronic channels, or auto-gates, from three at Lowu to about 270 by the middle of next year.
