Israeli Ministry of Transport and Road Safety
            

The Israeli Ministry of Transport is responsible for the planning, development and regulation of infrastructure and integrated transport systems with advanced technologies. It facilitates vehicle and driver licensing, vehicle ownership transfer and disabled parking permits.

The Israeli Ministry of Transport (MoT) is successfully paving a smooth path for Israeli mobility. This is in part thanks to the robust stability of running mission-critical services built with Adabas & Natural on IBM Z. It’s a tightly integrated and trusted partnership between MoT and Software AG that goes back to 1979. This Israeli Government Ministry has always been ahead of the curve with its innovative business and technology solutions. In recent years  it has made a major effort to offer e-government services on the web and mobile to the citizens via a personal login area with secure authentication.

The challenge for the MoT was how to join the e-government services effort to offer Israelis everything from digital licensing and beyond without sacrificing the long-term benefits of a reliable IBM Z system and custom application. “We wanted to create a real revolution for our citizens by putting them at the center of everything we do,” said Tzur Aharon, the CIO of the MoT. “Our goal was to improve the citizen’s experience by fundamentally changing how, when and where they could access MoT services—quickly and at low cost.”

Software AG offered a solution that was fast, simple, scalable—and inexpensive. By using webMethods EntireX as a gateway from the mainframe, unlocking access to the
web is a major success. Within months, Israelis were able to use their PCs, tablets or phones to log in, pay bills, check and renew their licenses. What had previously required taking off half a day from work and showing up in person—was now possible with a few clicks after dinner.

Goodbye DMV, goodbye waiting in line

Nobody likes going to the DMV unnecessarily to renew or replace a license, or dealing with all the potential paperwork associated with selling a car privately, which until recently in Israel required both parties showing up together at the post office.

The CIO sought to deliver customer experiences in providing online accessibility 24x7, 365 days a year through digitalization with EntireX. The long relationship with Software AG Professional Services as a trusted advisor made implementation fast, seamless and stunningly successful.

"Our team works hand in hand with many government ministries and financial institutions to enable citizens to quickly and efficiently access services across all channels,” said Arman Pashay, VP Professional Services, Software AG Israel. “Implementing this quickly was of utmost importance during the pandemic as it enabled citizens to use services without leaving the safety of their home.”

EntireX, part of Software AG’s mainframe integration solution, enabled it all by acting as the only gateway between sensitive data & business logic stored in its Adabas & Natural mission-critical applications on IBM Z and the ‘personal zone area’ for e-government services.

In just 3 months, the citizens could access their ‘personal zone’ on the government system and check driver and vehicle license statuses, register for disabled parking permits, pay bills and renew licenses. But digitalization unlocked something bigger: online-accessible, PDF-based licenses so that drivers are never without proof of status, and kiosk-based systems at grocery stores and other public locations so that even those without web or mobile access don’t have to wait in a line.

Use of the digital services grew in popularity faster than predicted. Thankfully, Software AG’s solution has unlimited scalability, so when the original 3 EntireX RPC servers instances hit their limits —the MoT scaled to 50 instances, in mere seconds.

The next evolution for the MoT was to make transferring vehicle ownership as simple as a few clicks. Private buyers and sellers can now use the new system to communicate and authenticate the transfer of vehicle ownership on the web or a mobile app. Adding online vehicle transfer meant private sales didn’t need to stop due to the global pandemic. And it made the MoT a leader among leaders in e-government services innovation.

First B2C, now B2B. MoT is ready for the future.

With a total of 10 e-government services now in production, the MoT is working to add at least 30 more in the coming years. Some will include areas like new and used-car price lists. Others mean expanding access to a new class of users: businesses. This would dramatically improve the efficiency of leasing and other companies offering fleets to private business and individuals alike.

Most importantly, EntireX and Software AG’s Professional Services ensured that MoT got the first phase of its project done at record speed. No other solution could even come close. And since users never see there’s a mainframe in the back end, the MoT captured the benefits of reusing its existing applications on IBM Z on mobile.

Now the MoT is ready for whatever the future brings. From smart infrastructure and identification initiatives built around IoT, to being prepared for the cloud and edge when and where they offer tangible improvements.

That’s how Software AG with EntireX has helped the MoT create a revolution domestically and for the world when it comes to digitalizing government services. And it’s how we ensure the citizens are smiling whether they are behind the wheel or accessing important services to get them there.