Phillippines eTIS Project: one year on

It has been almost a year since Crown Agents was contracted to implement the Electronic Tax Information System (eTIS) within the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the Philippines. Considerable progress has been achieved by the project team in a year which has been marked by a number of events.

• In April 2009, the Project Briefing and Registration module Functional Specification Report (REG FSR) Validation for the Makati Revenue Region took place. The briefing was well attended by the Regional District Officers and Section Chiefs from the nine Pilot Regional District Offices of the Revenue Region of Makati. The orientation discussions were focused on the Project Overview; Objectives; Milestones and Stakeholder's Roles and Responsibilities in the project.

• In May 2009, the TRIPS™ Demo was presented for the BIR Middle Management Executives from the National Office. For better appreciation of TRIPS™, the eTIS Project Team provided the Middle Management Executives from the BIR National Office with a preview and walkthrough of the software. Mr. Joseph Musolino, Crown Agents' Senior Analyst, demonstrated the user-friendly features of TRIPS™ and some of its functionalities.

• Also in May, the TRIPS™ Demo was presented to the BIR Technical Team. A further demonstration was given to the Information Systems Development Service and members of the Functional Team of BIR.

• In July 2009, the eTIS Implementation Team visited the nine Pilot Regional District Offices of Makati, starting off with a courtesy call with the Revenue Region of Makati's Director, Mr. Alfredo V. Misajon. The objectives of the visits were to inform the BIR stakeholders of the implementation activities that would take place prior to the Pilot live-run and obtain their commitment and cooperation for the success of the eTIS Project.

• In July 2009, the eTIS Taxpayer Registration (REG) Module FSR was signed off with the BIR Makati Taxpayer Service Chiefs, which was held at the Revenue Region Makati Auditorium. The opening remarks were made by Ms Carolyn Ann Reyes, eTIS Project Manager, BIR.
  

• Also in July, the Taxpayer Accounting System FSR was validated. A Presentation of the eTIS Taxpayer Accounting System (TAS) Module FSR to the BIR Makati Assessment Section and Collection Section Chiefs was made about system functionality validation.
• In August 2009, the REG User was accepted for testing. A briefing was provided to the BIR technical teams and end-users in preparation for the User Acceptance Testing (UAT). Ms.Zhuzan Claridad, eTIS Change Management and Training Manager, explained the approach to UAT and the test procedures.