The U.S. Department of Agriculture importation regulations require that all imports of Section 8e regulated commodities must either be inspected and meet the same grade and quality standards of domestically produced commodities, or they must be approved for exempt uses. The Market Order Administration Branch (MOAB) is responsible for the ensuring that the Import Community is in full compliance with the Section 8e import regulation. In excess of 120,000 shipments per year of over 30 different commodities are regulated (02/2003). The MOLS system is one component of the database system that enables MOAB to automatically identify and characterize those imports which are not in compliance and automatically contact those importers alerting them of their non-compliance. This is performed through the use of data acquired from U.S. Customs and data integrated from MOLS. MOLS closes all import entries that are in compliance due to 'passed' inspections, destroyed or exported shipment amounts (parts of the entry that failed inspection), and qualified exempt entries or entry portions. All unaccounted entries are deemed "probable non-compliant". Correspondence to the non-compliant importers is automatically generated including details of each entry that is not accounted as 'closed'.

Additionally the system provides a web-based facility for Imports to register inspections with USDA to enable clearance through Customs. This provided a replacement to a "Stamp & Fax" workflow that required considerable work and time among Importers as well as USDA personnel. There was also a delay in receipt of the artfact required to clear U.S. Customs due to the reliance on humans faxing documents. The "Stamp & Fax" workflow is illustrated in Figure 1.0. The replacement "Web-based Inspection Registration" workflow is illustrated in Figure 2.0.

Figure 1.0 "Stamp & Fax" Workflow

Figure 2.0 "Web-based Inspection Registration" Workflow.

The benefits of the "Web-based Inspection Registration" over the "Stamp & Fax" include :

• dramatic reduction in human time and effort, paperwork, and defects (for government and business),
• increase in compliance,
• the "Inspection Registration" requires less than 1 minute per Customs Entry, while the "Stamp & Fax" may require more than 24 hours.
• the "Inspection Registration" will automatically determine whether an inspection is required, the "Stamp & Fax" relies on a human - in fact over 100 different humans all with a uniform interpretation and sometimes having to call the Importer for additional information,
• the "Inspection Registration" automatically logs the entry in the database at the time of the registration, the "Stamp & Fax" requires USDA personnel to enter the data in a database when they get around to it.
• the "Inspection Registration" avoids over 240,000 phone calls per year, many of them long distance.
• with "Inspection Registration" the Importer knows the outcome immediately and has the needed certificate to allow their shipment to clear U.S. Customs within the minute, with "Stamp & Fax" they do not know when the certificate will be sent, or even whether their fax was received by a human.
• the "Inspection Registration" is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays; "Stamp & Fax" is available during 'office hours' and definitely not on holidays.

The web-based "Inspection Registration" provides the Importer with a standard Certificate that is uniform across all ports of entry and dates. This provides for enhanced enforcement of USDA regulations by U.S. Customs Field Agents. The certificates are auto-populated PDF files that are downloaded or printed by the Importer and presented at time of entry into the United States. Every Certificate is Serialized and corresponds to a U.S. Customs entry (or registered import). The data on the form is provided by the "Inspection Registration" database. USDA has all of the data captured in real-time so that every Certificate already has the data in the database at time of certificate printing. Figure 3 is an example of an Inspection Registration Certificate.

All business rule structure was designed into the database. This allows rule changes to be made at any time - keeping pace with changes in the regulations on commodities and which commodities are regulated - by a data administrator without making any code changes. This enables the Client to operate and maintain the system without requiring the on-going 'maintenance' work of a development or technical services firm.

The analysis tool suite was comprised of 22 summary reports and graphics. In addition there are 4 correspondence generator objects, and 1 XML file generator object. The XML file generator object is used by the state inspection offices as a template or class object for exporting data to MOLS in a 'easy-to-implement' fashion.

This application is a great example of how solid, stable, affordable technologies can provide a tremendous benefit to the hosting organization and their related Citizens and Businesses.

The entire FV6 Automated Certificate system was written in Microsoft Studio.NET (C#), MS SQL2000, running on IIS/Win2000 and using SMTP services for supporting “Forgot Password” e-mailing.  All of the reports were written in Crystal Reports. 

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