23.08.05 | Ordering books, booking flights and hotels or checking the state of your bank account are all tasks that can today be accomplished from the home computer. In order to promote the digital exchange of information with authorities and agencies, Siemens has set up an E-Government Laboratory in Berlin. Here, the business processes of government agencies are analyzed, optimized and transformed into secure electronic applications, which Siemens integrates into existing IT structures. Before a system is installed at a government agency, the Siemens experts can test it to ensure everything works as it should in practice.

The software package Solumstar, for example, which is used for managing data in the land registries of 13 German federal states, has already proved itself. The E-Government Laboratory created a feature in this software that enables notaries to use an Internet portal to access land registry information directly from their offices, rather than having to visit the land registry office in person.

To keep personal information out of unauthorized hands, users must identify themselves with signature card certified by an accredited Trust Center. These cards, which in Germany must conform to the high legal standards for regulating signatures, carry a chip holding the user’s digital signature. Identification is carried out by inserting the chip card into a reader connected to the computer. The data is sent to the trust center, where it is checked, and only then does the user gain access.

Other virtually conducted business processes that have to date required a signature can be performed using this type of signature card to provide legally binding assent to the transaction. The E-Government Laboratory is also working on other projects, including one that would allow users to claim unemployment benefits online.

This requires the ability to transfer data and documents in different formats in a single package, however. Siemens Business Services has developed the Zipped Record in XML format (ZRX) to accomplish this. ZRX acts as a container, making it possible to pack text files in PDF or TXT format together with MP3, JPG, GIF or HTML in a virtual file folder that can be electronically transferred as a single package. Several government agency employees can then work on the folder at the same time, which saves both time and money. (IN 2005.08.5)