Ministry of Finance Computer Center

The establishment of the Ministry of Finance Computer Center (PMSZK) had a dual purpose: on the one hand, to be the manager of the development of the financial information system (PIR), which is part of the financial system, and the center of its IT tool base, and on the other hand, to be the basic institution for performing data processing tasks within the PIR.

Its basic task was the continuous processing of data directly related to central and county local government finances and, based on this, the production of information necessary for financial management, and the performance of economic and financial analyses. In order to achieve this successfully, its most important activities included the rapid creation of the PIR's IT tool base, then its expansion in line with the expansion of data processing tasks, as well as the continuous development of PIR and the modernization of data processing and information technology methods.

The system developed and operated is: the Financial Information System (PIR).

The development included application and software development, as well as IT asset base development (computers, network, equipment).

Starting in 1969, the Institute developed the PIR through continuous, modular development, and operated/operated the gradually expanding system in parallel with the development.

In terms of type, the PIR is a public finance information system, which consists of a central and county local government subsystem, and its purpose is to serve the functions of macro-level financial management (including, for example, monitoring the implementation of the budget). Therefore, it transforms the data describing financial and economic processes and the developed “states” (data from balance sheets and budget reports reporting on the management of economic organizations and budgetary institutions, household returns, cash flow data, etc.) into macro-level information. (For example, it compiles a cash flow report based on them.) This means performing a substantial mass data processing task within the PIR. – In addition to serving the macro level, the PIR also aims to support the activities of the operational (administrative) level and institutional tasks.

The IT tool base and size of the PIR operating in 1985 – in its then-existing state – were characterized by the following: a national computer network, with 5 high-performance Siemens computers at the center (in the PSZTI), county computer subnetworks connected to the center with 25 TPA machines; the national terminal network – by 1989/90 there were already several hundred terminals – was served by both the central and county computers; the number of personal computers used in the PIR reached a thousand. (The latter were used in the largest number at the operational level: in the county subnetworks and at the tax offices.)

The Institute's core activities within the PIR

Mass data recording : a significant part of the data to be processed arrived at the Institute on paper-based documents. The data was recorded on magnetic tape.

Mass data processing in the Siemens machine park : the processing of data from information circles and the loading of specific data into the Financial Data Bank were implemented.

Provision of (bulk) services:

Batch-type, centralized basic processing: performed on Siemens machines, and the outputs were mostly delivered to users on paper. (This included, for example, the preparation, printing, enclosing and sending of millions of current account statements.)

  Distributed processing: implemented between the county municipality TPA computers of the network and the Institute's Siemens machines.

  Transaction-oriented, on-line processing that could be performed from clerk terminals: these used databases created on Siemens or TPA machines. (This was the case, for example, with the use of the central on-line current account query system from tax office customer services.)

  Retrieval and production of information: with the help of user terminals suitable for dialogue – or via the network's TPA computers – users could use database services. There was a way to retrieve from the Financial Data Bank or to perform analyses using the algorithms stored in the method bank. (Such were, for example, the use of the database by experts from the Institute, the Ministry of Finance or the Central Statistical Office.)

  The Institute provided system monitoring and operated a help desk for its online services.

The quantitative expansion of the mass data processing and services performed by the Siemens machine park in the period 1970-1989 is well illustrated by the fact that the annual machine-hour capacity used (converted to the initial Siemens 4004/45 equivalent) increased from 9 thousand hours in 1971 to approximately 370 thousand hours in 1989. (This was, of course, made possible by the continuous, very strong development of the machine park.)

The Computer Center of the Ministry of Finance, PMSZK, was established as an independent budgetary institution in 1969. On January 1, 1981, the Financial Computing Institute (PSZTI) was established with expanded responsibilities, both as the legal successor of PMSZK and by taking over the computer technology department of the State Insurance Company.

The broader scope of tasks represented the second stage of the implementation of the PIR: supporting the county financial management (by solving mass data processing tasks) and developing a fundamentally online system serving the ÁB.

On 1 January 1992, the PSZTI became part of the APEH organization and, with the merger of the Tax Settlement Office (ADIRA), the APEH-SZTADI (APEH Computer and Tax Settlement Institute) institution was established on 30 June 1992. This institution operated with a changed scope of tasks until the end of 2009, then under the name of the Informatics Institute until the end of 2010. The successor to the APEH, the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV), established on 1 January 2011, built up a new IT organizational structure and began to operate it under the name of the Informatics Institute. The organization’s current name is: National Tax and Customs Administration Informatics Institute.

This description describes the activities of the institution, which began in 1969 under the name PMSZK and continued under the name PSZTI between 1981 and 1991. The description does not address the subsequent period, when the Institute became part of the APEH organization from 1992.

For this description, the following was used:

Ministry of Finance Computer Center – information (internal publication, approx. 1970)

Financial Computing Institute – information (internal publication approx. 1982)

The “fruits” of the Siemens relationship: Between 1970 and 1995, when the Institute expanded its Siemens computer fleet with newer computer models (replacing older ones), not only the performance of the “raw” hardware improved, but also the possibilities offered by the system technology and the operating system used. The Institute was able to use increasingly advanced computers. Thanks to the educational framework accompanying the purchase of the machines, the staff received the necessary training in Siemens’ training centers in Germany. – From the 1970s, it became possible for the staff to work on Siemens’ development work in Germany/Austria.

The Institute's staff were regular participants and speakers at professional conferences, including the National Congresses of the Hungarian Association of Economic Scientists, the annual conference of the Hungarian Economic Society, the traveling economists' meeting and other events.

The Institute participated in the work of the State Administration Informatics Development Company ( ÁIFT ). The goal of ÁIFT was to bring data exchange between various institutions of state administration – through appropriate data transmission connections – into an orderly framework, and to create a common data catalog system, thereby facilitating the development of the state administration's computer information system.

It was valuable experience to gain that, before the introduction of the personal income tax in 1988, the team developing the personal income tax IT system also worked at the Austrian Ministry of Finance and the Bavarian Tax Office's computer center in Munich.

Excerpt from the PSZTI legendarium (1987): “The World Bank will not provide support for the 1988 tax reform if the personal income tax processing system in the PSZTI is not ready in time.” – It was completed.

The documents of the PSZTI and the APEH-SZTADI were placed in the archives in 2003 and 2005 – after thorough selection. Since the documents were not fully filed, their order follows the chronological order. Their research is possible partly by reviewing the item-level list and partly based on the filing books.