Case Study · 05 of 05
Ghana ran two legacy systems — GCNet's GCMS and West Blue's PAARS — separately. Officers and traders logged into both for the same shipment. Data never merged.
When CUPIA's deployment was scheduled, COVID-19 closed borders and grounded teams. Vendor coalitions hostile to the transition added political friction.
ICUMS — Integrated Customs Management System — merged GCMS and PAARS into a single end-to-end platform. Delivered through Ghana Link as a PPP special-purpose company.
The untact playbook: only three CUPIA staff stayed on the ground. The rest worked 18:00–03:00 Korea time to overlap with Ghana's business hours. Parameterized Configuration Management lets GRA modify rules without source-code changes.
CUPIA's first untact system opening in history. Phased rollout from border customs (March 2020) to full Phase 1 with 8 modules by June 2020. Phase 2 added 12 more modules.
ECOWAS SIGMAT integration connected Ghana with four neighboring transit corridors. AfCFTA and post-Brexit UK certificates of origin were live from day one.
"With airports closed and only three staff on the ground, success came through 18:00–03:00 Korea-time shifts. CUPIA's first untact opening — and it worked."
Source — CUPIA Ghana Project White Paper