Telematic Forum

The Telematic Forum develops improvement projects and also acts as a consultative body for proposals for progress in port processes.

Work methodology

The work of the Telematic Forum is carried out by projects. The group establishes the guidelines and general objectives of the projects, monitors them and analyses the results of the new procedures designed to speed up the physical or documentary processes associated with the passage of goods and means of transport through the Port of Barcelona.

  1. Proposal and approval of initiatives in the Fòrum telemàtic.
  2. Constitution of a specific working group to address the project, with people with extensive knowledge of these issues.
  3. The group analyzes the starting situation and draws up proposals that must be agreed upon.
  4. The Fòrum telemàtic approves the proposals of the group in charge of the project.
  5. The companies and administrations involved and the PCS develop the necessary applications for its implementation.
  6. The degree of use is monitored through the Telematic Forum itself.

Organisation

In the F òrum Telemàtic, the professional associations and administrations of the Port of Barcelona are permanently represented: consignees, stevedoring companies, customs agents, freight forwarders, land transport, Customs, Maritime Captaincy, Port Authority, border inspection services, transport users and the PCS.

Procedures

In addition to the description of the approved procedures and the user guides of current electronic data interchange (EDI) messages, access to the databases of the majority of codes (EDI access services) that are used in them and that are they update daily. You can also consult the Guide to Documentary Processes, a starting analysis from 1994 updated in 2002.

Origins and evolution

The Forum was created in 1994 for the implementation of electronic data interchange and adopted its current name and form in 1998. Thanks to the improvement proposals raised within the framework of the Telematic Forum, the degree of telematisation of the Port of Barcelona has gone from 0% in the year 2000 to 92% in 2019. 

Solutions and ways to improve port processes have been adapting to needs.

  • 1994 – The idea of the Telematic Forum arises. Within the framework of the Port of Barcelona Quality Plan, the Information Guarantee Commission is created, with the aim of implementing electronic data interchange (EDI) in all documentary procedures between organisations of the Port Community.
     
  • 1998 – For the implementation of the first Port of Barcelona Strategic Plan (1998- 2003) 8 working groups were created in different strategic areas. One of them is the Telematic Forum, which replaces the previous Commission and focuses on the role of telecommunications and new technologies in international trade.
     
  • 1999 – The changes in the port business reveal the need to reorient the objectives to overcome the limitation of EDI-oriented solutions. Portic Barcelona, SA is established, a set of information system services exclusive to the Port Community of Barcelona and its clients.
     
  • 2003 - The Telematic Forum receives the Award for Best Practices in the General Administration of the State, granted by the Ministry of Public Administrations of the Spanish Government..