Copernic tax project
Encyclopedia
Copernic project is undergoing a major modernisation programme in France
that will
recast and upgrade the entire fiscal information system in the country. Copernic project is set
to run over 10 years (2001-2009) by "Direction générale des Impôts" and "Direction générale
de la Comptabilité publique". It covers 70 individual IT projects, employs over 600 personnel
and has a budget of almost 1 billion euros.
tax
administration to offer new, citizen-centered services and to boost the efficiency of its internal
processes. Copernic will provide a simplified unique fiscal account for all French taxpayers,
both individuals and businesses. They will be provided with 24/7 online access to their fiscal
account and will be able to trace and follow-up processed data. Ultimately, users will be able
to check their fiscal account at anytime and execute all fiscal transactions and declarations
online, while the tax administration will be able to provide new services such as payment
reminders and information alerts. In addition to the Internet, e-tax services will be delivered
through a variety of channels, including call centers and traditional physical service. The
Copernic program will also open the possibility of implementing a new income tax recovery
system as of 2007.
(SOA) featuring complete control of IT
systems, long-term sustainability and vendor independence. To cover all the fiscal
information and its processing for 55 million citizens and 3 million enterprises, it had made a
rational choice to use Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS). The advantages of open source are: very low-cost or free of charge and
source-code opening that guarantees the reliability, durability and security of these solutions.
Copernic deployed 4000 Linux
servers and application architecture is based upon Java EE
. It has
full FOSS
system monitoring (Nagios
, Multi Router Traffic Grapher
(MRTG)) and software development platform (Eclipse
).
The presenter added, "FOSS is now our standard policy even for critical applications." They also needed a unique Enterprise JavaBean
(EJB) reference implementation. After a tough competition between many
candidates (Oracle Weblogic Server
, IBM WebSphere
, Oracle Database
, JBoss application server), they finally chose an open source
middleware
, JBoss. This is due to its known reliability, modularity, security and more importantly its independence from traditional industry constraints.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
that will
recast and upgrade the entire fiscal information system in the country. Copernic project is set
to run over 10 years (2001-2009) by "Direction générale des Impôts" and "Direction générale
de la Comptabilité publique". It covers 70 individual IT projects, employs over 600 personnel
and has a budget of almost 1 billion euros.
Objective
Its objective is to enable the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
tax
administration to offer new, citizen-centered services and to boost the efficiency of its internal
processes. Copernic will provide a simplified unique fiscal account for all French taxpayers,
both individuals and businesses. They will be provided with 24/7 online access to their fiscal
account and will be able to trace and follow-up processed data. Ultimately, users will be able
to check their fiscal account at anytime and execute all fiscal transactions and declarations
online, while the tax administration will be able to provide new services such as payment
reminders and information alerts. In addition to the Internet, e-tax services will be delivered
through a variety of channels, including call centers and traditional physical service. The
Copernic program will also open the possibility of implementing a new income tax recovery
system as of 2007.
Architecture
Copernic wanted a service-oriented architectureService-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
(SOA) featuring complete control of IT
systems, long-term sustainability and vendor independence. To cover all the fiscal
information and its processing for 55 million citizens and 3 million enterprises, it had made a
rational choice to use Free and Open Source Software
Free and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
(FOSS). The advantages of open source are: very low-cost or free of charge and
source-code opening that guarantees the reliability, durability and security of these solutions.
Copernic deployed 4000 Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
servers and application architecture is based upon Java EE
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition or Java EE is widely used platform for server programming in the Java programming language. The Java platform differs from the Java Standard Edition Platform in that it adds libraries which provide functionality to deploy fault-tolerant, distributed, multi-tier...
. It has
full FOSS
Free and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
system monitoring (Nagios
Nagios
Nagios is a popular open source computer system and network monitoring software application. It watches hosts and services, alerting users when things go wrong and again when they get better....
, Multi Router Traffic Grapher
Multi Router Traffic Grapher
The Multi Router Traffic Grapher, or just simply MRTG, is free software for monitoring and measuring the traffic load on network links. It allows the user to see traffic load on a network over time in graphical form....
(MRTG)) and software development platform (Eclipse
Eclipse (software)
Eclipse is a multi-language software development environment comprising an integrated development environment and an extensible plug-in system...
).
The presenter added, "FOSS is now our standard policy even for critical applications." They also needed a unique Enterprise JavaBean
Enterprise JavaBean
Enterprise JavaBeans is a managed, server-side component architecture for modular construction of enterprise applications.The EJB specification is one of several Java APIs in the Java EE specification. EJB is a server-side model that encapsulates the business logic of an application...
(EJB) reference implementation. After a tough competition between many
candidates (Oracle Weblogic Server
Oracle Weblogic Server
Owned by Oracle Corporation, Oracle WebLogic consists of a Java EE platform product-family that includes:* a Java EE application server, WebLogic Application Server* an enterprise portal, WebLogic Portal* an Enterprise Application Integration platform...
, IBM WebSphere
IBM WebSphere
IBM WebSphere refers to a brand of computer software products in the genre of enterprise software known as "application and integration middleware". These software products are used by end-users to create applications and integrate applications with other applications...
, Oracle Database
Oracle Database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
, JBoss application server), they finally chose an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
middleware
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
, JBoss. This is due to its known reliability, modularity, security and more importantly its independence from traditional industry constraints.