Unece assessment on the practical application of the data pipeline concept for improving the grain corridor efficiency using un/cefact standards

Abstract

This article describes the results of the UNECE assessment of a feasibility study of the practical application of the Data pipeline concept. The scope of the assessment is the humanitarian transport corridor under the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI). The efficiency of this transport corridor is of exceptional importance in connection with the political and economic situation in the country and its impact on world food security. The main objective of the project was to discover a way to improve the efficiency of this transport corridor through trade facilitation and digital transformation of data exchange and business processes. The concept of the Data pipeline was introduced in 2014 and is actively developed by the UN/CEFACT till then. The approach develops the authors’ deliverables, presented in theirs’s previous work on the GUAM transport corridor – such as the functional transformation of data requirements sets and distributed convertors concept. The authors also considered the experience from the participation in several single window projects in the maritime and port domain and the influence of the European eFTI Regulation. The key concept of the assessment is the use of UN/CEFACT standards and artifacts, as a holistic set of requirements that provide the possibility to harmonize data stemming from various trade operations, transport modalities, and jurisdictions. Methods. During this assessment, the data analysis and compliance analysis method were used to demonstraten the feasibility of the concept described. Results. The key deliverable of the assessment is the defined approach for the practical implementation of the IT solution for certain transport corridor (BSGI) that can also be used on other transport corridor. The other deliverables are the dataset for the BSGI transport corridor, mapped with the canonical UN/CEFACT reference data model, compliance analysis results, bottlenecks elicitation, and recommendations. Conclusions. The authors developed further their own approach to apply the UN/CEFACT standards and recommendations in general and particularly the data pipeline concept for the practical projects focused on the facilitation of trade and transport procedures. This assessment shows the feasibility of the approach and can be used both as a roadmap for piloting real-world projects and as a basis for further assessments.