Valentina Burdescu, the director of ONRC, and the person responsible for the launch project of ONRC v2.0
ONRC - Analysis of the official communication
In the following, we will analyze, in part, each statement issued by ONRC in the latest publication from yesterday.
Analysis of the press release
Since the launch date – July 26, 2024 – and up to the present, a total of145,888 requestsfor the Trade Register, from which 87,595 applications have been submitted through the new online portal. Of the applications received online,68,916 requests have been resolved automaticallywithout human operator intervention (company name reservations, provision of information from the Trade Register).
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The requests that were automatically resolved were largely handled automatically on the old platform, with the exception of RBR access requests and potentially (untested) BPI.
They represent a minority of regular requests, so it is likely that the actual success rate is somewhere around 500-1000 "automatically resolved" requests in an additional manner.
On the other hand, the platform has frozen activities that involve human interaction, so any statement suggesting that things are going well or progressing in a manner typical of a new launch of this magnitude is incorrect.
The number of requests received during this period, at the national level, is approximately double that of the same period last year. The new IT system has remained online and has withstood multiple accesses, with continuous system updates and correlation with historical databases, including the history of each user account. The help desk has been consistently available for user support, with approximately 700,000 users registered on the portal.
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Since I have not followed the developments of the solutions published in BERC while on leave, it is unlikely that the number of requests is approximately double.
Under no circumstances can we discuss an overload caused by the success generated by the platform. The economy in Romania has not changed its consumption trends overnight due to the successful launch of ONRC V2.0.
It is possible that the changes are caused by other variables, such as:
1. Increase in the number of postponed files due to the difficulties faced by ONRC employees in using the new system.
2. The reclassification of certain previous operations as independent requests would render the statistics a comparison of apples to oranges due to a false equivalence.
The difference in requests – both online and in-person – requires the intervention of ONRC employees for processing, resolution, and registration in the trade register – from which point the information becomes opposable to third parties and is made public and available through the online services portal, including editing and issuing registration documents.
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It is likely that the new platform will not benefit from certain previously existing automated functionalities, such as efficient integration with the ANAF system, automatic generation of registration proofs (registration certificate), and integration with BERC / MO, which would thus increase the actual time for resolved requests.
The requests requiring human operator intervention (numbering 76,972) are handled by approximately 1,200 employees of the ONRC nationwide, who, alongside managing operational workflows, also provide help-desk services in relation to beneficiaries.
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The specific value for this period, in the past months, was approximately 2250 files per day. The increased quantity is actually generated by the complete shutdown of ONRC activities from July 19, 2024, to July 26, 2024, which means 7 days during which the applications that would have been normally submitted have accumulated.
We are discussing a backlog of 15,750 requests generated due to the platform's operational blockage.
If we update the calculation, the remaining amount per day reaches 4,373 requests, a significant figure and double the usual requests. Arguments regarding the potential causes of the high volume can be found in the opinions above.
By the end of September, in order to process all requests requiring human operator intervention, deadlines will be extended. Applications will be addressed in stages, depending on the registration date, completeness, accuracy, consistency of the registration requests, and the supporting documents submitted, as well as the compliant existence of all legally required documents.
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We consider that the term is relevant, provided that the internal effort is concerted and genuine.
The scope and complexity of the new IT system require a transition period to familiarize all users with the new elements. According to specialists' estimates, starting from September 30, operations concerning beneficiaries will adhere to the deadlines for establishment and registration in the Trade Register.
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The scope and complexity of the new information system are not unique, as the application does not present technical difficulties, except for managing large volumes of data.
The problem of storing large amounts of data was solved as far back as the previous century, and applications/software that allow such operations now exist even with permissive open-source licenses (free).
In normal circumstances, an enterprise-grade application (large data, critical stability, etc.) is developed over several months, led by a team of experts, involves periodic testing of new updates, and is ultimately launched only once testing reveals that the system is functional.
We do not consider that the current application (at least myportal.onrc.ro, which is publicly accessible) meets these requirements.
The online services portal and all components of the information system are continuously monitored, verified, analyzed, addressed, and optimized. Technical and business teams are consistently working to enhance the information system and ensure optimal operation, taking into account user requests and responding to the high volume of activity during this period. New versions are released daily, for which we provide all available resources.
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It is true that the ONRC team is currently making significant efforts to stabilize the crisis situation, a fact that cannot be denied.
The databases established since 1990, amounting to millions of records, have been transferred to the new database structures. Additionally, the Trade Register component has achieved national centralization by unifying 43 databases from the 42 offices of the Trade Register and the ONRC – central apparatus. This activity required a significant amount of work in terms of demand and duration due to its complexity, diversity, and scale.
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It is unlikely that the effort was of such magnitude, as managing such a migration, especially when done in advance, is not difficult, albeit time-consuming (a few weeks).
Migration can usually be performed without long downtime for the platform, as has occurred in the current situation.
However, we reserve a degree of uncertainty as we do not know the actual situation on the ground and the homogeneity of previous storage means, even though in an enterprise context they should normally have adhered to certain standards and been easy to migrate.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to applicants, the business environment, and professionals, but the implementation of the new portal was necessary to ensure the continuity of services, considering that the previous system could no longer be used, posing a risk of losing all data at the institutional level.
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Advice for PR: When you apologize, you never look for excuses. As for "the previous system could no longer be used," I don't understand if:
1. ONRC refers to the inability to revert to the old system.
2. ONRC had an infrastructure that was at risk of losing all data at the institutional level (though unlikely since it was decentralized).
3. ONRC refers to data breaches, which seems unlikely given that the old platform was much more robust, operating on a wickets system, with data processed exclusively server-side.
Conclusion
We are uncertain whether the ONRC management is being misled by the technical team at Vodafone, if they are lying, or if the situation prior to the launch was more precarious than the public was aware of.
We have not identified information that demonstrates any clear bad faith or intent to misinform, but it shows that behind the migration there was neither a professional team nor good planning prior to the migration process.
In normal circumstances, data migrations are carried out progressively, especially in enterprise systems, to allow for the identification of issues. Typically, migration is tested on a smaller volume of data (1,000 companies, 10,000 companies, 100,000 companies) to facilitate the detection of errors or exceptions, followed by their subsequent resolution.
They are not being done in haste, and this haste has generated the very problem that affects us all. Instead of having a normal launch on a production-ready schedule, we have a testing phase on the user base, an open alpha/open beta project that should not have been unleashed publicly.
While we appreciate the efforts being made to address the issue, and the resolution times are below our expectations, we believe that effort must also be made to ensure job satisfaction, as many ONRC employees are complaining about the enormous workload, uncertainty, and lack of transparency.
Any person working during weekends, on public holidays, or outside regular hours should be rewarded and positively incentivized, rather than coerced, and we hope that the ONRC takes measures to ensure the satisfaction of their employees.
It is noteworthy that in any large-scale system, burnout reduces the average efficiency of employees, and these conclusions were precisely what led to the extension of the weekend to two days, the establishment of a shorter work schedule, etc.
