In conjunction with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (known as COA in the Netherlands) and the Dutch Aliens Police (Vreemdelingenpolitie), Ordina developed a new biometric reporting system. This is the first step towards a more efficient, user friendly and less labour intensive way of working. And equally important: shorter waiting periods at the reporting stations.
In conjunction with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (known as COA in the Netherlands) and the Dutch Aliens Police (Vreemdelingenpolitie), Ordina developed a new biometric reporting system. This is the first step towards a more efficient, user friendly and less labour intensive way of working. And equally important: shorter waiting periods at the reporting stations.
In conjunction with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (known as COA in the Netherlands) and the Dutch Aliens Police (Vreemdelingenpolitie), Ordina developed a new biometric reporting system. This is the first step towards a more efficient, user friendly and less labour intensive way of working. And equally important: shorter waiting periods at the reporting stations.
In conjunction with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (known as COA in the Netherlands) and the Dutch Aliens Police (Vreemdelingenpolitie), Ordina developed a new biometric reporting system. This is the first step towards a more efficient, user friendly and less labour intensive way of working. And equally important: shorter waiting periods at the reporting stations.
Challenge
All asylum seekers who are entitled to accommodation by the COA, have to report to the COA and the Aliens Police weekly. Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers (UMAs) have to report on a daily basis. In most municipalities, the service desks for both the COA and Aliens Police were situated in the same building. Nevertheless, the time consuming and labour intensive process often resulted in long queues with likewise waiting periods.
At the request of the former Minister for Aliens Affairs and Integration, the COA and the Aliens Police decided to professionalise the reporting process in order to improve the overall quality and (cost) efficiency.
Following an intensive European tendering process, the COA requested Ordina to develop an IT infrastructure that could combine the two separate reporting processes. Naturally, securing the registration of the personal information during this process was top priority for all parties. The project Duty to Report & Biometrics is the first project within the Dutch government and the Aliens Affairs Chain where biometrics is utilised for such a large target group. Close monitoring from the media, politicians, members of parliament and the government contributed to the challenge facing the project team.
Solution
The system works as follows: the asylum seeker enters their identification card in the card reader. Pictograms on the screen then instruct the person which finger to scan for its fingerprint. Once the scan is completed, the print is compared to the existing data stored in the central database. If these match, the process is finalised and the asylum seeker is finished within 20 seconds. The system reports its findings to the COA and automatically sends these results to the Aliens police within 24 hours.
The system enabling all of this was developed internally by the COA and the Aliens Police’s own IT divisions. Ordina’s project team was tasked with the management and functional control of this technically innovative project. Elaborating on their responsibility to deliver results, Ordina’s architects developed the infrastructure and the software architecture. Our specialists were also responsible for developing all of the specialised elements such as building the physical reporting station and purchasing the readers, screens and keypads.
Our client
To Dutch society, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers is the organisation that is responsible for the problem free accommodation of aliens. Acting on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, the COA offers safe accommodation to people in a vulnerable position, supporting them in preparing for their future in the Netherlands or elsewhere. They mostly aid asylum seekers and refugees, but this may extend to specific groups such as unaccompanied minor aliens.
Result
Ordina’s project team installed 110 physical reporting stations in 54 COA locations, which is the first step towards accelerating and simplifying the asylum seekers’ identification and reporting duty. This system also lays the foundation for automated and thus more efficient data processing. Each reporting station is equipped with a PC, monitor, keypad, a fingerprint scanner and a card reader. To overcome language barriers, the station issues instructions by using pictograms. The combination of fingerprints and the identification card - the temporary official identification document – ensures a secure identification process; this is unique in the Netherlands.
Ordina’s specialists co-operated with the COA further in delivering applications that direct the communication between the asylum seeker and the central data warehouse, where the fingerprint information is stored. Aside from installations at COA locations, Ordina also installed a number of Identification Card Production and Control systems (known as MPB’s in Dutch: Meldpas Productie en Beheersystemen) in other locations, including Schiphol. Such a system captures the personal information of all asylum seekers entering the Netherlands and scans and stores all fingerprint information. It then generates an identification card, supplied with a photo of the particular asylum seeker, which can be used when reporting to the COA and Aliens Police weekly or daily.
This system has merged two identification processes into one and it complies with all of the quality criteria set by Europe and the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation). The latter is a branch of the UN under which almost 200 countries resort, all of whom have agreed to supply identification documents, such as passports, with biometric elements in the coming years.