Oracle Customer Success—Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

Federal Office for Migration and Refugees Deploys New Refugee Registration System on Oracle Engineered Systems

To date I haven’t experienced a single project that can be compared even remotely with ASYL Online in terms of its importance, complexity, or implementation schedule. The professionalism and phenomenal dedication of BAMF and Oracle enabled successful realization within an extremely short period of time.

— Dr Markus Richter, Head of Infrastructure and IT Department, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees Speeds Registration and Enables Secure Data Transparency for nearly 1 Million Refugees per Annum

At the height of the refugee crisis in summer 2015, up to 10,000 refugees crossed Germany’s borders every day with the aim of applying for asylum there. The systems in place up to that point at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF) were not designed to cope with this volume and unable to quickly and correctly register so many people. In addition, there was no central data storage nor was there a system for necessary data exchange. Various authorities registered refugee details individually on first contact, for their own purposes only. At the same time, the refugee debate became increasingly heated both among politicians and within society at large. Against this backdrop the BAMF developed a system within the shortest possible space of time with which all refugees and asylum seekers could be clearly and fully registered on arrival. Furthermore, all authorities and organizations with justified interests were to be given access to the centrally stored data.

Business Challenge

Accelerate the recording and registration of personal and biometrical data in order to attend to large numbers of refugees in a short period
Avoid unintentional or unjustified multiple registrations, and identify risks to domestic security immediately on arrival by centrally storing and rapidly exchanging the data of all registered refugees

Record personal and biometrical data of refugees correctly and completely, update them as needed, and make them available to all federal and local authorities involved
Create an arrival certificate which will serve as both a central ID and entitlement document for refugees

Implemented BAMF’s new core system ASYL Online—based on two Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud X5-2 and two Oracle Exadata X5-2—as a central platform for recording and processing the data of refugees arriving in Germany, removing previous technical limitations
Gained the ability to register more than 1 million refugees per annum, a key requirement for ensuring the long-term integration of refugees into German society, for example by bringing registered refugees to the labor market

Developed the capability to store a refugee’s personal and biometrical data, such as fingerprints and passport photo, immediately on arrival at their first point of entry into the country
Reduced the processing time for the registration of a refugee from around 60 minutes to 20 minutes, tripling the number of registered refugees per day
Decreased backlog of unprocessed registrations, normalized working conditions for staff at registration centers and other administrative bodies, and reduced waiting times for refugees—such as families with children camping for weeks outside government buildings under unacceptable conditions
Minimized abuse of social benefits and potential security risks by comparing the stored data in real time—instead of 3 to 7 days as previously—with the data held by the security authorities and identifying those already registered on the spot
Gained the ability to create and print an arrival certificate as an identity document for each refugee immediately after registration, thus faster allocating refugees to support points and accommodation
Empowered government authorities at central and Federal State level to improve administration of refugees, such as distribution of accommodation and social benefits, while also gaining the ability to process asylum rejections faster
Ensured that ASYL Online has the required interfaces with all involved government bodies—for instance with border control and police, ministries of interior and state security, and with the Federal Printing Office that issues ID cards
Improved collaboration between German authorities from government to Federal State level and increased transparency with regard to the processing of asylum applications and the successful integration of refugees
Completed development, testing, and implementation of hardware and software within only 40 days, and integrated the ASYL Online platform seamlessly into BAMF’s existing IT landscape

A time-critical development as ASYL Online cannot be done with the same project routine used by most organizations. Oracle fulfilled all requirements, including extreme ones, with total know-how, unlimited effort, and maximum flexibility.

— Kausik Munsi, Head of Software Development, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

Execution

BAMF benefited from the extraordinary dedication of all authorities and employees involved, as well as from efficient support from highly qualified Oracle experts. Those involved included Oracle Consulting, Oracle Advanced Customer Support, the Oracle Development Center in India, the Oracle A-Team as a consultancy and developer team for the most complex tasks, and Thomas Kurian, President of Product Development at Oracle.

Thanks to the professionalism, seamless communication and extreme flexibility of the teams, and to sophisticated logistics, it was possible to roll out ASYL Online ahead of the defined project period of just 40 days.

About Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

Headquarters

Nuremberg, Germany

Employees

9,500

Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

As a senior federal authority in Germany, the duties of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF) include processing asylum applications, responsibility for the protection of refugees, creating and promoting structures for refugee integration, and supporting—where necessary—refugees' voluntary return to their countries of origin. BAMF is also responsible for recording and registering arriving refugees, and for issuing an arrival certificate containing personal, identity and contact details.