BOTH employers and halal food vendors now have much to cheer about as CPF contributions and applications for Muis certification can now be made online.
Previously, employers had to make time to complete a hardcopy form and submit it with a cheque to CPF Board.
This not only exposed them to the risk that these items could be lost in transit, but employers also had to check if the documents had been received as there were penalties for late payment.
This risk can be avoided thanks to CPF e-Submission.
Since 1999, employers have had the option of submitting their CPF contributions via CPF e-Submission.
Today, employers have a variety of e-submission modes to choose from. In addition, some e-submission platforms offer auto-computation functions, thus minimising errors in contribution details.
There is also no issue of a discrepancy between the amount shown in the payment advice and the cheque amount.
Such discrepancies would delay the crediting of CPF contributions into their employees' CPF accounts.
Already, this has yielded tangible benefits such as a shorter crediting time of three working days as opposed to up to five working days, while overall awareness of e-government services and IT literacy among employers have improved.
As at Aug 31, 51.8 per cent of all employers are submitting their CPF contribution details electronically. This translates to 90.5 per cent in terms of employee count for all employers.
Not surprisingly, feedback from employers has been positive. CPF Auto-eXcel is a free software provided by CPF Board for employers who do not have any payroll system to submit their CPF contribution details electronically.
The free software helps employers to auto-compute the CPF contribution amounts and to produce a data file for submission to the board.
Currently, about 20,000 employers are using the software, which includes features such as checks to ensure the contribution details tally, alerts to employers when their employees cross age groups, and provision of the breakdown between the CPF payable by employers and employees.
Like CPF e-payments, halal application has gone online through the Muis eHalal System (MeS), thus removing the need for manual application along with details updates.
The MeS is a Web-based software that manages all aspects of halal application, both front and back-end processing. Also, there is better data or information management now.
For example, Muis said that time taken for data entry has been cut by more than 30 per cent, while there is a more than 50 per cent drop in application processing time.
This not only provides greater convenience to halal certificate applicants but also raise the efficiency of the halal certification process.
'I like the 'Glossary' and 'Get Address' features in the system. These have made data entry work much faster. And the layout, I like it! Its clean and friendly,' said Noorhayati Moehammad Saide, halal certification manager, Banquet Holdings.
Sudyono Solehim, senior halal executive, Old Chang Kee, finds the system very friendly, saying that 'one feature that I find most interesting is that it eliminates the repetitive entry of menu and ingredient items for new applications, especially for food chain establishments'.
'Muis has leveraged on technology to facilitate halal applications via its eHalal System,' said Dewi Hartaty Suratty, head of halal certification strategic unit.
'The development of MeS was a challenge as there is no global benchmark for us to follow. We are happy that halal applicants have benefited from it and that Muis has contributed to the growth of the halal industry.'
The Pro-Enterprise Panel was set up in 2000 to solicit feedback from businesses on how government rules and regulations can be improved to create a more pro-enterprise environment. The PEP is chaired by Civil Service Head Peter Ho and consists of mainly private-sector business leaders.
This article was first published in The Business Times on September 23, 2008.
