References
Embassy Support Application
ESA is a secure multi-user web-based application that provides functionality to support diplomatic missions like online visa application & processing, citizen registration & communication, payment processing as well as reports & statistics.
It provides tangible benefits at affordable costs to the citizens/visitors as well as the embassy, especially for diplomatic missions supporting multiple countries by targeting core processes that have the highest customer impact.
Frontend - Customer facing functionality
- Open and accessible to the public (citizens & visitors)
- Seamlessly integrated into the embassy’s website
- Apply for visas online with the possibility of partially saving and application and retrieving it later
- For diaspora to register with the embassy online
- Registering emergency contacts of citizens with the diplomatic mission
- Applying for consular cards online
- Checking the status of all applications online
Back Office - For embassy staff
- Security protected web portal that is accessible only to embassy employees via state of the art security
- Process visa and consular card applications online
- Track and manage applications for other consular documents (passport, birth, death, celibacy certificates, drivers, filming and other licenses)
- Manage relationship & communication with diaspora and citizens
- Report and provide multiple statistics on citizens and applicants
- Hosting Web Server space
- PHP 5 support on Web server
- MySQL 4 or above
- Who is using ESA?
- Do i need a new infrastructure or hardware to be able to use ESA?
- Do i need a new website to be able to use ESA?
- Do i need to replaces existing processes to be able to use ESA?
- What languages can ESA support?
- Are there any special skills to use the system?
- How secure is ESA?
- What is the strategy to secure ESA against data loss?
The Kenyan diplomatic mission in Berlin is currently using ESA v1.0 to manage its citizens. ESA v2.0 is currently in the final phase of deployment after intensive joint evaluation
Diplomatic missions currently having a website do not need any new hardware or infrastructure to run ESA in over 90% of the cases. ESA relies on the commonly available web hosting infrastructure (to run PHP and MySQL) to function
Diplomatic missions currently having a website do not need a new website to run ESA. ESA is designed to integrate into the existing website and relies on the commonly available web hosting infrastructure (to run PHP and MySQL) to function.
No! ESA is a support tool for existing processes and is not meant to force staff into learning new processes
ESA is designed to support multiple languages. It is currently implemented to support English and German in the front end
No! One major design objective of "ease of use" like for YAHOO or Hotmail was achieved.
No additional computer skills are required once the software has been configured and deployed.
The front end application is open for use to the general public and does not contain critical data
The backend is protected with state of the art security:
» Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates are used for secure connections between browser and server
» user names and unique passwords
» A fine-grained authorization and permission system limits the access rights of each user only to the areas they are allowed to see
» Audit trail functionality tracks the date and modifier for each major change in the system
ESA has a built in backup and restore functionality to safeguard critical data from unplanned losses.
mavnewmedia is available to offer support in such situations if requested.