Assignment Three
Introduction
The Australian Customs and Border Protection (ACBP) is a government agency tasked not only with the protection of the geographical borders of the country, but also with ensuring that all goods and items entering the country are not in violation of any customs codes as well. In the previous assignment, the organization recently underwent improvements in knowledge management to include information technology upgrades, but that the full integration and migration to the overall knowledge management system is hampered by problems in organization and skills development. It is this aspect that will be carefully investigated by this assignment, with reference to the organization’s Integrated Cargo System (ICS). This paper aims to make recommendations to enhance the current system and provide benefits to the agency in terms of shortened processing times and greater output and productivity.
Integrated Cargo System
The ICS of the ACBP is a gateway of communications through which all e-business transactions flow to and from the department. The older customs system was upgraded in 2004 and the cost of the upgrade was around A $ 200 million (McDermid and Bolton 2008, 184). This system permits the electronic lodging of Formal Import Declarations by brokers or importers for all goods and items imported into the country. The fees can also be paid via electronic fund transfers as specified in the system. In this system, all communications as well as processing functions are performed with the use of the Internet. Initially, the system was created to process all clearances for customs for items entering and leaving Australia. Customers are required by law to use this system. The freight and other items were not immediately cleared, leading to storage problems as well as higher customs costs for freight forwarders and other customs brokers. In addition to this, the ICS itself did not function, and security information for a certain company were being sent to another company. There was an intense buildup of container vans at the terminals, freight forwarders began receiving data and other information meant for other companies (Toomey 2005, 179). In another online article, (Jacoby, 2006) found out that there were also other issues such as problems on the documentation of cargo and the very slow processing of information.
Elements of a Knowledge Management System
In the readings and other literature provided in class, a Knowledge Management System (KMS) is “a management system in the organization that outlines, manages and promotes the Knowledge Management action in the organization, and includes the management structure of actions, collaborators, work patterns, additional resources that are required, methodologies and solutions, and measurement and evaluation processes” (Williams 2015, 1-14).
Thus the KMS in this paper will encompass the process of having one’s Formal Import Declaration being filed in the ICS, approval, payment and the release of the cargo involved in the declaration. This KMS, when properly organized, has the value of increasing revenues for Australia, in terms of customs and other duties levied on these imports. For duty-free items, the value is in knowing that the ICS is able to properly clear all legitimate items within the desired time frame, thus allowing freight forwarders to make their operations more efficient in terms of the delivery specifications and other deadlines.
Simple Knowledge Management Framework for ICS
Sharing and Using Knowledge
Supporting Activities: Training, Feedback System Development
The best type of knowledge management system for this endeavor would a Learning System. It appears that the technology framework also needs some updating, as seen in the processing delays and the mix-up of information. It is clear that there are many opportunities for learning in this case.
For People, this would include the users of the ICS – cargo owners, service providers, carriers and forwarders and customs officers. Other users would include other concerned government agencies also within the Customs Service, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Taxation Office, among others. The Processes are all those occurring under the processing of Import Declarations from the time the cargo is about to leave origin to the time it is released to its forwarder or owner. Technology involves the hardware and software used for this processing.
This simple KMS must also be aligned with the overall business objectives of the ACBP. While it desires to raise revenues for the country, it must also see to it that the goods and items entering the country are all legitimate and will not cause any harm therein. The KMS must therefore work towards the promotion of increased revenues and the swifter processing of imports without sacrificing security and legitimacy. What would be essential would be the timelier processing of imports while keeping the information and knowledge secure at all times.
Intervention
The intervention to be suggested will focus on the delay in the processing of the Formal Import Declarations. The delays could come from two main sources: human delays and technical or equipment delays. The intervention to solve these delays should therefore address these two types of delays.
Information Management System The information management system should include information that enters into the system. This information will therefore be related to the information coming from the freight forwarders, the owners, the vessels carrying the cargo, and from other sources (Laudon and Laudon 2009, 184). One insight that can be gleaned and related to this system is that the human delays occur because the information may not have been submitted on time. The cargo may have left port or may have been loaded already on an airplane, but if the information on the cargo and its documentation has not been forwarded to the system, then delays are bound to occur. This then implies that training is needed for users who are not exactly in the ICS, meaning, the freight forwarder or owner (who should file the Formal Import Declaration) must know how to use the ICS and file the documents accordingly and in a timely manner. Also, all the necessary attachments to the Formal Import Declaration (such as an air waybill) must be complete, so that no time is lost (Australian Government, 2015). If the policies of the ICS have to be changed with regard to lead times for submission of the Formal Import Declaration such that the goods are released on time, then these changes must be included in the new policies of the ICS.
Database Management System The key element of the database management system related to this intervention is that it contains the system related to the processing of the information. The intervention here should address the delay in the processing of the Formal Import Declaration. If the party responsible for filing the same does file it on time, and yet there are delays, then the flow of work in the database management system must be checked and any kinks addressed immediately. The information from the information system must be integrated into the database system, and support must also come from the knowledge management system such that these task on hand can be accomplished. If the fields in the database are recurring, such as for freight forwarders and the goods they release, then the processing ought to be faster, and that this is also tied to the inspection of the goods as they physically pass through Customs. The database must then be in support of and recognize the information coming through the information systems mentioned above. The database management system must also be careful about populating the database such that no irregular data is stored that may affect the performance of the system (Gill 2010, 5-6).
Knowledge Management System The knowledge management system influences the task as it uses the set of knowledge that the ICS and the agency possesses (Barnes 2002, 16). The skills needed for processing the documents and releasing the goods and cargo in a timely fashion are included in this system. Thus one also has to include the level of skills of those involved in processing the documents for the release of the goods and cargo in this system. Everyone involved must possess excellent skills such that the releases are timely, and such that all illegal cargo or cargo lacking documentation are prevented from entering the country.
Conclusion
The problem of the delays in the release of the cargo entering into Australia. As there are three systems supporting the task, all of these three systems have to be polished and any issues resolved so that the accomplishment of the task itself becomes flawless. For the information management system, the needed inputs into the task so that processing can begin must be all complete. All those filing the Formal Import Document must know how to file the documents and must know what the necessary attachments are so the actual processing can begin and so that the cargo can be cleared within the necessary time frame. As for the database management system, the database must be complete such that processing is facilitated for repetitive releases, for as long as all the requirements and needed attachments are complete. Finally, the knowledge management system must always include the skills needed to finish the task. The implication here is that all involved in clearing the cargo must be trained very well before they are asked to perform on the job.
In the end, the entire system has to be tested and re-tested for feedback. Without any support feedback system, any problems and issues would not be brought to the attention of those who can correct the same. Feedback is an essential ingredient of the three systems working to make the task a perfect one. If the three systems and the task work together perfectly, then the Australian government is assured of a steady stream of revenue without the headaches and extra costs due to the delays.
Bibliography
Australian Government, 2015, Import Declarations, Australian Government, Sydney, viewed 21 July 2016, https://www.border.gov.au/Importingandbuyinggoodsfromoverseas/Documents/importdeclarationsweb.pdf
Barnes, S 2002, Knowledge Management Systems: Theory and Practice, Thomson Learning, London.
Gill, P 2010, Database Management Systems, IK International Publishing House, New Delhi.
Jacoby, C 2006, Data Issues Remain for Troubled Cargo System, Businessnews, Sydney, viewed 20 July 2016, http://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Data-Issues-remain-for-troubled-cargo-system
Laudon, K and Laudon J 2009, Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Hoboken, NJ: Prentice Hall.
McDermid, D and Bolton, S 2008, Ethics in IT: An Australian Perspective, Pearson, Australia.
Toomey, M 2005, Australian Customs Integrated Cargo System: A Catastrophe in Governance of IT and Systems Reliability, in Infonomics and IT Governance Letters, Pearson, Australia.
Williams, D 2015 ‘Nuts and bolts of a knowledge management system’, Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, vol. 14, pp. 1-14.
