The CPF Board (CPFB) and its IT vendor, Microsoft, have identified the root cause of the technical issues and are working to progressively restore the CPF e-services. CPFB thanks members for their patience and understanding during this period.
Following an in-depth review, Microsoft’s global subject matter experts have determined the root cause of the technical issues to be an integration component used by the website, which had not functioned as intended under situations of high member traffic. This caused the wrong display of information in a few isolated cases, which prompted CPFB to take the system offline as a safeguard.
The CPFB and Microsoft IT teams are currently applying the necessary technical solutions and conducting extensive system testing. This includes end-to-end user testing and checks to ensure proper functionality and performance before public access is restored. CPFB would like to reassure members that the technical issues are confined to the website layer and all data, including members’ account details, are unaffected.
“We apologise to members for the inconvenience caused. Much as we would like to bring the e-services online as quickly as possible, we cannot afford to compromise the stability and reliability of the e-services. We are working round the clock with Microsoft and all necessary resources have been mobilised to conduct thorough functional and load testing. We will update members on the restoration of the CPF e-services once the effectiveness of the technical solutions have been robustly validated,” Mr Ng Chee Peng, Chief Executive Officer of CPFB.
To ensure service continuity for members, selected e-services catering to 70 percent of all online transactions have been made available since Wednesday, 2 December 2015. Members can check and print their account balances, contribution history and transaction history. Since the restoration of selected CPF e-services from Wednesday evening, 2 December 2015 till 7.30pm on 14 December, there were more than half a million successful SingPass log-ins to those services. In addition, CPFB has extended the weekday operating hours of its five service centres from 5pm to 6pm and the CPF Call Centres from 6pm till 7pm. Self-employed persons who need to make contributions can do so by sending in a cheque or visiting any of the service centres. Members are also able to perform their transactions using alternative channels as listed in the Annex. Website informational pages and the e-Submission service for employers are not affected.
Members can be assured that they will not be levied any late charges by CPFB due to the current unavailability of the CPF e-services. Eligible members who make voluntary contributions and top-ups will qualify for the applicable tax relief as long as the Board receives their applications through relevant alternative channels such as mail, CPF service centres, Self-Automated Machines (SAM) and SingPost branches by 31 December 2015.