1. TRACES TNT An update on the state of play
Presentation to
Ministero Della Salute
Rome
30/5 – 1/6 2012

2. The situation TRACES in production since 1/4/2004
Handling over 100,000 certificates per month
From initial scope, TRACES now covers a wide (and increasing) scope of activity
There are several important evolutions still foreseen (digital signature, …)

3. The Problem
With age comes legacy and "technical debt" that makes it more and more difficult to
Follow legal evolution
Maintain and support existing functionality
Evolve according to stakeholders' wishes
Certain early design choices have proven suboptimal but can not be changed
Core technology of TRACES becoming of age, even obsolete

4. The Future Stabilise the current system, except for:
Legal evolution
Critical mantenance
Develop from scratch a new system:
Based on latest web technology
Taking stakeholders' requirements into account
Taking experience of TRACES into account (based on field visits and other requirements)

5. Field visits Visited so far:
NL: Rotterdam port, pig assembly centre (EO INTRA usage)
DE: Frankfurt airport, German LVU offices
BE: Brussels airport, AFSCA offices
DK: Ministry offices, Aalborg port, LVU offices

6. Main observations
In general, TRACES users are reasonably satisfied with the system
"Casual" users find it too complex
Help facilities insufficient – learning by doing
Difficult to get overview of certificate
Provide a "print preview" mode?
Other screen layout? Configurable?
Organisations management is a key issue that needs addressing

7. Main wishes Don't change too much – retraining must be avoided
User profiles: multiple login profiles
Systems interconnectivity and integration:
Single window customs
RASFF: closer integration desirable
IUU certificate
Full animal transport route plan
Certificate creation and replication

8. Changes – ergonomics, look-and-feel
HTML5, but no external component frameworks
Reasonably modern browser will be required (no more IE6, IE7, for technical and security reasons)
Context-sensitive help and tooltips will be available
Facilitate navigation by keyboard, avoid requiring mouse movements

9. Changes – certificate handling
General
Layout closer to paper certificate
Improve error indication
Part I
Facilitate organisations search (auto-complete? "did you mean"?)
Consider "wizard" mode for occasional users
Part II
Improve TRACES as a planning tool

10. Changes - other
Possibility to select which profile to login as, or even switch profile at runtime
Hierarchical management of users
Organisations – major re-design
Activities linked to commodity codes
Authority linked to Activity
Handle organisation with multiple addresses
Improve searching for an organisation, stabilise the database (avoid the "preValid")

11. Future
By end 2012: Stabilise TRACES, finalise last remaining features to be implemented
TNT already starting:
Prototyping, explore architectural solutions
Baselining the architecture
Define and prioritise the work packets
Gradually dedicate more manpower
We are still open for suggestions!