Department of Transport

The collection of motor tax and the management of driving licenses is a major business for the Department of Transport.

Customer’s Challenge

In motor tax alone, over €880 million was collected in 2006 from over 2.3 million taxed vehicles. This involved some 4.75 million transactions. The department wanted to implement a new computer system to bring its motor tax and licensing operation into the 21st century. It also wanted to offer a better service to citizens, who, in order to renew their motor tax, previously had to return to the local office in which their vehicle was originally taxed. The department was anxious to deliver this new service as part of the e-Government initiative and to build a platform for delivering future web-enabled services to its customers.

Fujitsu’s Solution

The department worked with Fujitsu Services to completely refurbish and take on the management of the IT infrastructure in motor taxation offices across the country. Fujitsu was tasked with delivering, maintaining and supporting the infrastructure for over forty locations and around 700 desktops around Ireland, using Microsoft NT 2000 servers and Microsoft Office 2000 on the desktops.

It also set up a central system in Shannon and a contingency system in Ennis using clustered SUN Enterprise 6500 servers and EMC disk storage. Fujitsu managed the necessary skills transfer and training for department staff and supports the hardware and software for the system. The project represented the first sizeable use of managed services by an Irish government department.

The initial contract was to last until the end of 2005. So in the Autumn of 2005 the department went to tender to renew the Managed Service Contract for the Technical Infrastructure Support for the National Vehicle and Driver file (NVDF). Fujitsu won the renewed Managed Services contract for Technical Infrastructure Support, for the NVDF. The renewed contract ensures that the Motor Tax System is available country-wide on a 24x 7 basis.

Gerry O’Malley, Principal Officer with the Vehicle Registration and Motor Tax division commented in his correspondence with Fujitsu, “I wish to congratulate Fujitsu in this venture and look forward to a continuing excellent working relationship between both parties”

Benefits to our Customer

The system has provided Irish citizens with an improved quality of service, as they can now renew their motor tax at any office across the country. It has also enabled the department to:

Develop an up to date national database containing data relating to driver licensing at its office in Shannon. This means that more current and accurate information is available to those enforcing the road traffic regulations.
In particular, the system will provide an essential support to the introduction of a penalty points system to help reduce accidents and loss of life on Irish roads.
The system has also created a foundation for the department to further build on its e-Public Service objectives, which include the provision of motor tax renewal online. The department can deliver all the extra service without having to be concerned with maintaining and servicing its technology environment.
It also has the benefit of the expertise of the third largest global supplier of IT services in its drive to deliver e-Services to the citizens of Ireland.

Our Approach

The infrastructure was implemented over a twelve-month period. Fujitsu was contracted to maintain and support it for three years, working closely with partners including Sun Microsystems, EMC, Compaq & Microsoft to deliver a reliable and robust solution in a phased development from July 2001 to August 2002. This followed a successful pilot implementation in Clare and Wexford, followed by the creation of a “model office” solution that facilitated testing and training of all local authority staff. The project is on budget and ahead of schedule.

Our Expertise

The department was attracted by the ability of Fujitsu to provide it with a fully measurable service level agreement (SLA), which guarantees response times to technical issues at any site in the country as well as to the central Vehicle Registration Unit in Shannon. This, coupled with leading edge technologies, allows the department, though the Local Authorities, to provide a resilient and uninterrupted service to customers without having to worry about the technical environment. Fujitsu Services was selected following an extensive tendering process.

“We in Fujitsu Services are delighted to be associated with this landmark project”, said John F. Walsh, client director, Fujitsu. “It frees the department’s staff from worrying about IT systems and allows them to concentrate on their core business. This is the vision we have for both government and private sector organisations: We concentrate on our core area of expertise, delivering IT services in the same way as electricity comes from a plug in the wall, while they concentrate on their core competence; delivering excellent customer service.”

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