1. METS Online Background
Malaysia External Trade Statistics Online (METS Online) was developed by Speedminer to provide users the Malaysia External Trade Statistics (merchandise) (METS) between Malaysia and rest of the world. The system processed data from the Customs Information System (CIS) by Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD). METS Online was launched with preformatted table for product codes up to 10-digit for Harmonised System (HS) and 9-digit for Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) which allowed users select up to 11,700 product codes. Prior to the usage of METS Online system, majority of the processes were performed manually and it sometimes caused redundancy. With achievement of METS Online, the national boundary of the country was used as the statistical frontier. All goods entering or leaving the country (except specific exclusions) were recorded, whether or not such goods are subject to clearance. Accordingly, goods entering or leaving customs bonded warehouses, Free Trade Zones and Free Zones were recorded in the statistics. Transactions of commercial and private ships and aircraft were also included in these statistics if they were imported or exported as goods purchased, sold or leased (financial) whether or not they arrived or departed under their own power.

2. Trade 2.0 – METS uCustoms Background
Ubiquitous Customs (uCustoms) is a fully integrated, end-to-end, and customs modernization solution that delivers single window for goods clearance. uCustoms also will be used for complete electronic licensing processes by the Cross Border Regulatory Agencies (CBRA) known as Other Government Agencies (OGA)/ Permit Issuance Agencies (PIA) and other players in the government agencies and private sectors related to the supply chain activities via land, sea and air mode.

Starting from 2019, RMCD adopted the Ubiquitous Customs (uCustoms), a fully integrated, end-to-end, and customs modernization solution that delivers single window for goods clearance to replace its existing CIS. Therefore, in line with the use of the uCustoms System, DOSM decided to revamp and enhance the current METS Online, which gave birth to Trade 2.0 – METS uCustoms.
Trade 2.0 – METS uCustoms aims to provide the re-engineering process of the METS Online. It is to ensure work processes are more efficient in line with the uCustoms System transition.

The Challenge
To meet the objective of Trade 2.0 – METS uCustoms, we needed to redesign the METS Online database based on uCustoms’ workflow and database structure. Besides, our design needed to comply to DOSM’s complicated data cleansing rules and to achieve production efficiency and effectiveness in producing huge amount of reports, publication and dashboards periodically. To name a few, hundreds of forms needed to be developed for Data Cleansing, and yet the Task Assignment and Code Table were involved more than 15,000 rules for data validation process; hundreds of publication reports needed to be migrated to Trade 2.0 – METS uCustoms and automation of data pushing and consolidation process to produce top management’s summarised reports.

The Achievement
Many objectives had been met and many benefits were obtained through Speedminer solution. Speedminer Business Rule Engine is simple in execution of addition and modification, thus ensure future data consistency and easier maintenance. Essentially, the entire process flow is more coherent and automated required less human intervention. Based on the OLAP model, Speedminer ensured greater operational effectiveness by processing dirty data and listing records that failed any cleansing rules. The records also go through multiple levels of cleansing which were performed concurrently. This generates previously unobtainable levels of efficiency, with the time frame needed for data cleansing drastically reduced.

303 forms were built on our rapid development technology – the web application framework and workflow (powered by EliteSys) which allows drag and drop to lay out its forms in an easy, intuitive manner by using drag and drop to program the interactions and workflows. Validation is available to ensure data entered is sensible and reasonable i.e. Check digit, format check, length check, look up table, presence check, range check, spell check etc.

With embedded Business Intelligence tools, 600 analytical reports had been produced easily both shown in dashboard and in reports with different format i.e. PDF by clicking a button. This enable top management to make decisions speedily and accurately. Speedminer also produce a centralized module for top user (CEO) to access top level reports and analysis.

Sample Analysis for Top Management
1. Trade Performance Summary
2. Top 5 Importer by Countries
3. Top 5 Exporter by Countries
4. Major Trading Partners
5. Exports of Major Products
6. Total Trade by Region
7. Import Value by Mode of Transport
8. Export Value by Mode of Transport