|
Siemens Business Services wins order from Turkish Ministry of Finance worth $US64mn |
|
|
|
Saturday, 10 July 2004 |
05 July, 2004:
The Turkish Ministry of Finance has commissioned Siemens Business
Services to integrate 326 government offices into a nationwide
communication network and to implement the necessary hardware and
software for electronic signatures, which will thus be introduced in
Turkey for the first time in such a large scale. This project is worth
$US64mn and follows on from an order to automate the tax authorities
awarded to Siemens Business Services in 1998. The Turkish Ministry of
Finance aims to implement quick and straightforward administrative
workflows, accompanied by greater transparency in its tax data. By the
time the project is completed in the summer of 2005, it is scheduled
that all 599 offices (tax offices, regional finance offices and tax
inspector offices) of the General Directorate of Revenue will be
networked.
In
future, Turkish citizens will be able to submit their tax returns via
the internet and will be able to call up their tax file online whenever
they want. Citizens stand to benefit from quicker processing – for
example transactions (declaration, payments) can be finalized in a
shorter time. Additionally, with the new system they are not obliged to
go to the tax office personally any more.
As
prime contractor in this major project, Siemens Business Services is
responsible for all services, from system design to rollout, right
through to training. Since April 2004 the IT service provider installs
more than 300 servers, some 10,000 PCs and over 5,000 printers, and has
networked the authorities with a Wide Area Network. In addition, it is
in charge of implementing the security hardware and software. Secure
access via the internet is ensured by the use of digital signatures and
encrypted data transfer via a Public Key Infrastructure. Another
feature designed to enhance security is a disaster recovery solution
capable of tax ID applications. On top of this, the Siemens subsidiary
will set up a data warehouse system for the central storage of all tax
data, that allows the better control of all tax relevant transactions,
and establish the necessary IT infrastructure for a call center. Here,
ministry staff will be on hand to answer any questions Turkish citizens
may have about their tax affairs. Finally, the IT service provider will
train more than 15,000 revenue officers to handle the new technology.
Osman
Arıog˘lu, General Manager of the Turkish Ministry of Finance, comments:
"this project will provide the foundation for additional public
projects that will bring Turkey closer to e-government."
The
General Directorate of Revenue in Turkey comprises 299 tax offices,
which serve as a point of contact for taxpayers, regional finance
offices in 81 cities, which are responsible for administrative issues,
and 219 tax inspectorate offices. The directorate has a staff of 35,000
and is primarily responsible for implementing tax laws, preparing
administrative regulations, collecting income tax and carrying out tax
audits.
www.siemens.com
|
