DIAGNOSES

Ahmedabad Regional Passport Office: Rapid Response Time by Process Redesign

presents analyses of the management case by academicians and practitioners

CASE ANALYSIS I
Sarla Achuthan Director BK School of Business Management Gujarat University, Ahmedabad e-mail: sarla.achuthan@lycos.com

he case discusses the attempt to redesign the process of issuing passports at the Ahmedabad RPO which is suffering from a huge backlog. It describes the passport application and approval process and its sub-processes; the layout of the passport office; number of employees in each section, etc. It also gives the initiatives taken by Mr Swain, the Regional Passport Officer to change some of the procedures in order to improve the response time of the RPO. Some suggestions reported are based on the study of a student of a reputed management institute. These suggestions require to be prioritized based on their utility, implementation efforts, and resource requirements and additional inputs are to be provided.

CURRENT STATUS
If the response time for each activity is considered separately, the performance of the Ahmedabad RPO seems satisfactory. Out of 15 activities, the RPO meets the stipulation set by the CPO in seven activities while it exceeds the stipulation in six activities. It lags in only two of the activities, viz., writing and indexing; it processes writing for 70 applications/person/day against the stipulated 80 and processes indexing for 110 against the stipulated 125. Thus, overall, the performance of the Ahmedabad RPO in terms of response time to each of the activities is good. Nevertheless, there is a huge backlog of applications with the number of pending applications exceeding 100,000 as on March 2001. Due to this, the passport issue time, on an average is 145 days.

The July-September 2003 (Vol 28 No 3) issue of Vikalpa had published a management case titled Ahmedabad Regional Passport Office: Rapid Response Time by Process Redesign by Doorva Bahuguna and N Ravichandran. This issue features five responses on the case by Sarla Achuthan, Laxman Mohanty, VK Menon and AK Rao, Sumita Rai, and Harekrishna Misra.

OBJECTIVES
The objectives that Mr Swain set before himself are: to reduce the response time to improve customer focus.

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MAJOR CAUSES FOR THE BACKLOG AND LONGER RESPONSE TIME

PVSR time: The current bottleneck is PVSR (Police Verification Screening Report) which takes an average of 72 days or about 50 per cent of the total time taken in issuing a passport. The main reasons for PVSR taking such a long time are: a long police procedure involving flow of PVSR document through three layers of police non-availability of online data on criminal records by the Police Department no control of RPO over the PVSR process it is the responsibility of the Police Department low priority given to PVSR by the police department. Granting time: The granting process takes an average of 57 days or about 40 per cent of the total time. The main reasons are: a huge backlog of passports waiting for the granting process a higher number of objections raised during the granting process mainly due to incorrect form filling and missing documents the applications with missing documents or incorrect form filling are not completely screened at the scrutiny stage. Staff: The Ahmedabad RPO has an actual working staff of only 51 as against an approved staff of 103

as of January 2002. The problem of under-staffing is compounded by the low level of motivation and the need for substantial skill upgradation among the RPO employees. There is a shortage of 20 to 25 employees if the RPO is to process 200,000 to 250,000 applications per annum (Table 1).

SUGGESTIONS ON PROCESS REDESIGN AND REALIGNMENT

Pass on the Responsibility of Getting PVSR to the Applicant
An application for PVSR may be sent directly to the police station by the applicant so that the time taken in PVSR document travelling from RPO to police station and back can be halved. In other words, a parallel processing of PVSR and passport application can be started. The applicant will have to request the police station to issue a PVSR and send it to the RPO on a form detached from the passport application. It must be ensured that the applicant does not send different information to the police station and the RPO. One way is to match all the information from PVSR to the application at the Diary Section or at the time of linking at branches. The PPF or request form for PVSR may be a carbon copy of the passport application form or it may be on a self-inking paper, such as used by the courier and transport industry to generate multiple copies.

Table 1: Requirement of Employees for Various Activities

Activity Applications Person/Day Existing Employees No. of Employees Required* to Handle 150,000 200,000 250,000 Applications Applications Applications per annum per annum per annum 1 6 2 1 2 2 2 1 3 2 9 1 6 3 2 2 8 3 1 3 2 3 1 4 2 12 2 8 4 3 2 10 3 1 4 3 4 2 5 3 16 2 10 5 4

Detailed scrutiny Acceptance stage Scrutiny, acceptance, and cash receipts Detailed scrutiny of travel agent applications Detailed scrutiny of postal applications Dispatch of PPF Scanning of registration form Detailed entry PVSR entry into the computer Pasting and lamination Signing Writing Dispatch entry Indexing Linking Granting Objections Others Total

190 96 160 100 300 400 300 600 240 400 70 480 110 240 300

11

2 2 2 11

17 48

43

57

72

*Based on Ahmedabad RPOs performance, assuming 230 working days in a year for each employee.

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AHMEDABAD REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE:

Thus, it can be ensured that the applicant sends the same information to the police station and the RPO. Both the copies of PPF may carry a unique application number, so that linking of incoming PVSR with the applications becomes easy. Utility to enhance performance: It does not seem necessary to dispatch PPF and start the PVSR process only after scrutinizing the passport application. If the PVSR process is started even before the scrutiny stage, a considerable time taken in scrutiny, dispatch of PPF, and PPF document travelling from RPO to the police chowki via police headquarters and police station can be saved. This should turn out to be at least 15 to 25 days as even the dispatch of completed passport takes an average of 12 days. Resource requirements: Assuming the applicant carries the PPF to the police station, the resources allocated to dispatch PPF can be used elsewhere. Only some modifications in the existing software, which matches the incoming PVSR to the indexed applications, may be required. The resources and process of linking the PVSR received from the police stations with passport applications at RPO are already in place. Extra care is to be exercised in matching up the information in PVSR with the passport application. The software can be modified so that it matches all the fields in both PVSR and passport application at RPO including the photograph of the applicant. Otherwise, the photograph can be verified manually. Adopting this process will free the personnel involved in handling and dispatch of outgoing PPF for other work including manual matching of the photograph. Implementation efforts: Implementing this suggestion does not require any change in the information or documents collected by the RPO, hence, there should be no opposition citing apprehensions about misuse. The only change is that two processes are started simultaneously so that the waiting time at the linking stage can be reduced. Other remarks: This scheme can be successful only if the errors in form filling are minimum. Otherwise, the PVSR will become useless as it will contain erroneous information about the applicant. Another possible way is that, after the scrutiny, the applicant can be handed over the PVSR form countersigned by the scrutinizer, which the applicant can take to
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the police station. If the application is being submitted at the DSPs office, the PVSR form may be detached there itself.

Reduce Granting Time by Better Scrutiny

The average granting time of 57 days can be reduced if the number of objections raised can be reduced. The relatively high standard deviation of 29 days shows that the granting time can be much less than the average for many passport applications. The number of objections raised can be reduced if only those applications without errors in form filling and missing documents are passed at the scrutiny stage. The granting authority will only have to check the veracity of the documents and a favourable PVSR to grant the passport. Even though more time may be taken at the scrutiny stage, an overall saving in time can be achieved as the time spent by subsequent activities on incorrect applications can be saved. The passport applications accepted at the DSPs offices in each district must also be scrutinized before acceptance. This would considerably reduce the workload at the scrutiny counters of Ahmedabad RPO and some of the employees may be allocated to other activities. The employees working on the scrutiny counter need to be given extensive training with periodical refreshers. A publicity campaign can be conducted to generate public awareness about the facility of submitting applications at DSPs offices of each district.

Allocate Employees Based on Activity Time

The number of employees allocated to each section should be decided on the basis of the expected number of applications as well as the activity time at RPO or as specified by the CPO. Table 1 shows the requirement of employees for each activity depending on the number of applications the RPO has to process per annum assuming 230 working days for each employee in a year. The writing section needs at least 11 persons in order to handle 200,000 applications per annum at the current speed, while at present, the number of persons allocated for the purpose is just two. Obviously, automation in writing will reduce the number of persons required considerably. On the other hand, 11 employees are allocated to the indexing process while only eight are required to handle 200,000 applications per annum. Thus, there is a slack here, and three of the employees can be shifted to other activities. The number of persons

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dedicated to granting passports should be at least three if there are more than 200,000 applications per annum. Similarly, four persons need to be allocated to pasting and lamination activity. However, the employee allocation in Table 5 of the case does not show any dedicated employee for either granting passports or for pasting and lamination processes. It is not clear as to what kind of activities or processes are undertaken at branches where 11 employees are presently allocated. From the data shown in Table 1, we can conclude that: There is definitely a shortfall of employees as there are only 48 employees while 209,000 applications are expected in 2001. However, with the help of some casual workers, the RPO should be able to process 175,000 to 200,000 applications per annum according to the performance it claims. Still there was a backlog of more than 100,000 applications as on March 2001. Even the existing employees should be allocated on the basis of activity time taken for each process and the number of applications expected. The activities where reallocation of employees is required are listed in Table 1. The RPO can plan ahead and calculate the number of employees it will require in the coming years with the help of past data and the growth rate given in Table 2(a) of the case.

from 10 am to 1 pm only. These counters can be kept open for more time. This will reduce the inconvenience to the applicants and the long queues. More time spent at the scrutiny and acceptance stage will result in less time wasted in objections later. There may be periods of lull when the flow of applicants is very less. At such times, employees at the counters may start working on applications received by post.

Combining Counters
There are separate counters for scrutiny of the application and acceptance of fees. This could be eliminated. The fees should be accepted at the end of scrutiny if the application is complete in all respects. Better still, the acceptance of fees should be completely outsourced. The applicant will only have to attach a proof of payment.

Layout of Counters
The counter for the physically handicapped and the senior citizens is in a distant corner. This counter may be shifted closer to the entry. This will make access easier for the physically handicapped and the senior citizens.

Application by Post
Since the applications received by post tend to have more errors, the applicant may be required to send a selfaddressed envelope along with the application. If there are errors, the application can be sent back with a form showing the reasons for non-acceptance of the application. For accepted applications, a confirmation can be sent.

Study Other RPOs

The RPO at Ahmedabad has the highest backlog in issuing fresh passport among all the 28 RPOs in India (source: Table 4 of the case). The RPOs of Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Trichy, and Chennai have comparable number of passport applications coming in. A study of these RPOs can be undertaken to find out how these RPOs manage to contain their backlog while operating within similar procedural limitations.

REVIEW OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF APPENDIX 2

Clearing the Backlog on a One-time Basis
This can be the first step in clearing the backlog and improving the service. A drive to clear the backlog can be organized by asking the existing employees to work over-time or by requesting some employees from other RPOs to help for a week or two. Since the Ahmedabad RPO meets the CPO guidelines on activity time for most of the activities, creation of new backlog can be prevented if enough employees are allocated to each activity (as shown in Table 1). The action on this recommendation has already been taken since May, 2002.

Distribute Load Equitably

Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar account for 34 per cent of the fresh passport applications. These are processed by Branch 1 while Branch 2 processes 64 per cent of the fresh applications. Thus, the load is divided unequally. A more equitable allocation of load can be arranged.

Work Time
Enquiry and fresh applications receipt counters are open

Workload Rationalization
The opening of a passport office at Surat will not only
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reduce the load by 26 per cent to 40 per cent at Ahmedabad RPO but will also cover a region with very high growth in passport applications. Hence, it will be a matter of time before the passport office at Surat will match Ahmedabad in the number of passport applications.

Process Realignment
It is suggested that the process at the RPO be completed till the writing stage and passports with a clear PVSR be dispatched withholding the remaining passports. The passport can be granted provisionally with the condition that the PVSR should be clear. However, the written passport must be kept in a secure place and it must be ensured that all the passports with adverse PVSR are destroyed. Utility to enhance performance: By completing the passport till the writing stage while waiting for the PVSR, the time taken in granting and writing process will be saved. This will reduce the total passport processing time. In fact, for majority of the passports, granting and writing process takes less time than PVSR. Thus, by implementing this suggestion, the passport can be issued immediately after receiving a clear PVSR or in around 72 days. Resource requirement and implementation efforts: A system must be created whereby the written passports can be linked and matched with the PVSR. At present, the linking is done at the branches and the granting authority verifies the PVSR along with other documents. Since the granting stage has already been passed if the passport is written without waiting for PVSR, another officer of the rank of superintendent must match the PVSR with the passports and ensure that only passports with a clear PVSR are dispatched. A special facility must be created for storing the written passports while waiting for PVSR. This facility has to be properly guarded as any pilferage may result in granting of passports with adverse PVSR. Incinerators or shredders must be installed to destroy the passports with adverse PVSR in front of witnesses. A record of all passports must be maintained and matched periodically with the dispatched and destroyed passports and with those waiting for PVSR.

selling of forms from one of the counters can be stopped. A few vendors may be given license/permission to sell forms outside the passport office which may help generate some revenue. The RPO can tie up with banks and post office for acceptance of fees, so that the applicant can attach a proof of payment with the application. Utility to enhance performance: If the sale of forms is stopped from one of the counters, the counter can be used for other purposes like scrutinizing the applications for fresh passports. The revenue from permission to vendors may be used for providing basic amenities to the applicants. Considerable time can be saved at the counters if the acceptance of fees is outsourced which will allow each counter to scrutinize more applications and increase efficiency. Resource requirements and implementation efforts: The counter selling application forms may be easily converted into a counter scrutinizing and accepting applications. The person manning the sale counter may require to be trained in scrutinizing applications. A tender may be floated for license to sell application forms outside the passport office. The tie up with banks and post office for acceptance of fees may require efforts of a higher level. The post office has the widest reach and hence a convenient place for applicants to pay application fees. The banks and post office may charge fees or commission to collect fees on behalf of the passport office, hence, the application fees may have to be increased slightly if the net amount received by the RPO per application is to remain the same.

Waiting Line Management Issues

A single line for applicants, with the head of the line assigned to an empty counter as and when the counter becomes empty, will reduce a lot of confusion among the applicants. It will also reduce the switching of lines by applicants and will ensure that an applicant who has arrived first will be served first. An electronic numbering and token system will eliminate the necessity of standing in the long queue for hours. The applicant may be given a number or token at the gate and s/he can sit somewhere or complete some other work and come back. Shifting the enquiry counter outside the building will reduce a lot of people waiting in line just to inquire about the status of their applications. The status is already made available online at the Ahmedabad RPOs

Outsource Selling of Forms and Acceptance of Fees

The selling of forms is already privatized; hence, the
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website. However, the penetration of internet is very low in our country. The common people either do not have access or are not comfortable using internet. If the status information can be made available through automated telephone service, then it will reach more people and ease load on the enquiry counter at the RPO.

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Application forms both in English and Hindi are a

necessity in the multi-lingual reality of our country even though they may become bulky and cluttered. Having separate forms in Hindi and English will be a problem for most of the people in Gujarat. A person more comfortable with Hindi may take the Hindi form, but some words may create problems. If duplicate instructions in English are available, the person can refer to them and resolve doubts with the help of some familiar words.

CASE ANALYSIS II
Laxman Mohanty
Silicon Institute of Technology Bhubaneshwar e-mail: laxman@silicon.ac.in

he case presents the following problems faced by the Ahmedabad RPO:

Long queue of applicants either waiting to submit the application form or to know the status of their applications. Pending applications of over 100,000. Long delays in the processing of the passport. It is currently 145 days while the law stipulates a period of five weeks (35 days). Less staff (57) as against the approved strength of 103. Low motivation of staff members. Mr Swain, the Regional Passport Officer, intends to improve the response time between the receipt of application forms and the issue of passports. Looking at the facts given in the case and the problems on hand, the following suggestions may be put forward to streamline the processes in the RPO to bring in the desired efficiency and effectiveness.

ers and provide an opportunity to earn some extra revenue. Either, each application form can have a unique identification code (ID) or the bank and the post office can assign the ID while accepting the forms. This ID can later be used to track the status of the application. Application fee should be received by banks and post offices in the form that is cost effective to them (cash, credit card, account transfer, etc.). They can then transfer the amount collected on a monthly or fortnightly basis to the account of the Passport Office. Passport Office can also outsource non-critical and manual activities like pasting, laminating, etc. Here, the workers of the contractor can work inside the premises of the Passport Office to ensure security and be paid on per piece basis. This would lead to higher delivery rates. The Passport Office can assign one person to ascertain quality. Surely, there will be enough number of entrepreneurs to take up this kind of work.

USE OF TECHNOLOGY
Internet should be extensively used for enabling people to check the status of their applications. The software can be modelled after the railway software which enables the passengers to check the status of their tickets through Internet. The Passport Office can also install two or three kiosks in their premises to allow applicants to check the status of their applications. The kiosks could be touch screen-based with the facility of display of information in vernacular language. The Indian Railways has installed similar systems in some stations and they are working satisfactorily. Improved document flow system (as suggested in the next paragraph), can
AHMEDABAD REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE:

OUTSOURCING
The passport office should totally outsource sale and receipt of forms to post offices and some designated banks. In fact, it should stop the receipt of forms through travel agents and registered post. Post offices and banks can carry out the first level of scrutiny by using a checklist provided by the Passport Office for this task. Post offices and banks already have the relevant expertise. In the current competitive market, they could be convinced to take up this task because it would enhance interactions with their existing and prospective custom-

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be used to provide data for the query through the Internet. By transferring some work to customers themselves, the Passport Office would not only reduce the cost of operation, but would also enhance customers involvement and satisfaction. Tele-inquiry similar to that used by the Railways can also be tried out. With the elimination of tasks such as receipt of forms and attending to general queries, the manpower base can be reduced and customers can have better services. It may be indicated that the Passport Office may also channel its miscellaneous services through banks and post offices. The Passport Office can adopt document management and work flow system for moving the application form electronically between different processing centres instead of moving the physical forms. To begin with, the form can be scanned and the physical form can be stored in a secure place for future reference and the image file can be moved from one desk to another for its processing. A relevant software can be used to pick up data from the form and create the necessary record in the applicants database. While the image file moves from one desk to another (appropriate desks get information regarding successful processing at the earlier desks and then they are required to carry out their own processing and then move the file to the next desk), the Regional Officer can check the status of all the applications and also a list of exceptional cases that need his/her intervention. Similar systems have already been implemented in several offices and there is no reason why they cannot be implemented in the Passport Office. Though the cost may increase in the short run, it can be taken care of by a small increase in the application fee. Applicants are already tuned to pay more to get faster service (like they pay additional Rs 1,000 to get the passport in ten days time under the Tatkal scheme). So they may not hesitate to pay more in this case. Also, a part of the cost can be recovered by the enhanced productivity of the existing employees. The automation of repetitive work in offices is likely to enhance the motivation level of the employees. Thus, the low motivation of employees can be partly taken care of by automating processes. Eventually it may be possible that the same processing software can be extended to the police station (part of an extranet) thus reducing the delay at the police station end. If the police can directly input its observation on individual application, it will also reduce data
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entry at the Passport Office level. For security purposes, multi-level passport, secure network, and digital signature can be implemented. The Income Tax Department and the Election Commission already maintain databases for citizens. The Police Department may use these databases and also its own criminal database to cross-check the data provided by the applicants.

REDESIGN OF SOME PROCESSES

Even if the document flow system is not extended to the police stations, the document can be directly sent to the concerned police station instead of routing it through the SPs office. In fact, at the SPs office, there is no value addition except that it acts as a post office and introduces delays. In case the Passport Office sends the documents directly to the concerned police stations, it will have more interactions with them and can thus persuade them to hasten the process in general and for some long delayed cases, in particular. The Passport Office can get the name of the concerned police station from the passport form itself. At the police station end, the practice of the police going to the houses of the applicants may also be reviewed. In the current situation, people visit police stations to hasten the police checking process. This can be formalized so that the police officer can avoid going to the applicants houses and use the time saved to handle more applicants. Applicants can be called to the police station with necessary documents for an interview. The police can use e-mail, phone or post card to inform about the interview schedule. The passports should be completely computer printed as is done by banks to update the passbooks. This will eliminate any human error and also speed up the operations. With extensive computerization, several tasks can also be combined and thus manpower requirement can be reduced. For example, PVSR and diary can be combined. Similarly, writing and signing can be combined. Currently the sequence of processing and the way various departments are located in different floors do not match. For example, indexing which is the next operation after getting the forms is on the fourth floor; processing is on the second floor, and writing and dispatch is on the third floor. In a computerized document flow, this arrangement may not make a difference, but in the case of physical movement of applica-

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tions, the sequence of events and the distribution of departments on different floors should match; otherwise, considerable energy will be spent in moving applications back and forth.

Overall, greater computerization, streamlining, and selective outsourcing may be some of the possible ways of improving the efficiency of the Ahmedabad Passport Office.

CASE ANALYSIS III

V K Menon
Professor, Marketing Area SDM Institute for Management Development Mysore e-mail: v_k_menon@hotmail.com

A K Rao
Director SDM Institute for Management Development Mysore e-mail: raoarza@yahoo.com

hmedabad Regional Passport Office (RPO) receives the highest number of applications from the public in Gujarat for the issue of passports. Mr Swain, Regional Passport Officer, was unhappy about the functioning of the Passport Office. He was concerned not only about the time taken to issue passports but also about customer satisfaction. A detailed analysis of the passport issue system was done to identify the problem areas and suggest actions to improve the situation. Some administrative and procedural changes initiated by Mr Swain relate to automation of passport writing and the indexing process, opening of new RPOs to collect applications, and efforts to clear backlogs. These initiatives, he hoped, would improve the situation to some extent.

City Bangalore Kolkata Chennai Hyderabad Trichy

Backlog 2,296 16,005 17,944 20,816 23,207

Number of Applications 125,838 112,440 168,087 231,809 170,512

PERFORMANCE OF AHMEDABAD RPO

A preliminary analysis of the traffic information in RPOs (Table 4 of the case) shows that the percentage of passports issued at Ahmedabad is very low at 77.6 compared to most of the other cities. For example, it is 98.1 per cent at Bangalore and 88.5 per cent at Delhi. The other cities where this percentage is below 80 are: Guwahati Lucknow Patna Srinagar 79.7% 79.0% 76.0% 60.3%

These are disconcerting figures for Ahmedabad operations and would require a benchmarking exercise. Mr Swain should identify a few centres having minimum backlogs and conduct a study to identify the key factors which have resulted in their better performance. Three major parameters should be studied: Process efficiency, technology usage, and attitudinal factors. A study of Table 7 of the case shows that the performance standards at Ahmedabad RPO are comparable with the standards set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It appears from the data that there is an acute shortage of staff at RPO, Ahmedabad, that is causing the delay. The number of staff employed should be proportional to the number of applications received. With automation, the standards of performance have to be reset. If there are administrative problems in recruiting staff, then the work has to be carried out by employing casual workers in non-sensitive areas like dispatch.

Mr Swain has obviously inherited a legacy and not a pleasant one at that. Ahmedabad has the highest backlog as on 31st December 2000 42,350 against 189,327 applications. The corresponding figures for some of the other high traffic offices are as follows:

SUGGESTIONS FOR EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS

The most time-consuming part of the process is the PVSR, taking, on an average, around 72 days per application (Table 1 of the case). Inter-departmental coordination or the lack of it can also contribute to the delays. Considering that the police department is busy

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with its own work, it may not assign sufficient priority to the work of another department. On the other hand, it is also clear that the police verification process is central to the issue of passports. The present system has three layers: PPFs sent to the Police Commissioners Office Routed to the respective police stations PPFs sent from the police stations to the chowkies after processing. From the case it looks as though there is not much value addition happening at the first stage. If so, we may consider eliminating this stage. Three suggestions come to mind: A PPF can be designed and given to the applicant along with the application, so that he can fill up this form and hand it over to the police station in his locality. The RPO may send the PPF directly to the concerned police stations without routing it through the Police Commissioners Office. The passport applications may be collected from the police chowkies and forwarded along with the PVSR to the RPO. Basic scrutiny procedures are to be implemented at the chowky levels. This process obviously calls for a drastic change in the administrative procedures.

period by the PVSR process. Even though it may not be possible to grant passport to all of them in which case some written ones will have to be destroyed, it may still be worth trying this out considering the time saved in this process. Reducing backlog: A study of Table 2 b of the case shows that while the rate of incoming applications has grown by 9 per cent (considering 97-00) and 11.30 per cent (considering 99-00), the number of passports issued has actually fallen, the corresponding figures being 1.90 and 9.20. Obviously the trend has to be halted. As a first step and as suggested by Mr Swain, there has to be a clearance drive that will wipe away or significantly reduce the backlog. In this context, it is interesting to note from Table 6 of the case that in July 2001, 28,769 applications were received and 17,462 passports were issued (against an average issue of 14,000 per month). If this trend is sustained in other months, the backlog could be checked.

EXTERNAL STREAMLINING
Application from agents: The case states that 50 per cent of the forms are submitted by the registered agents. Efforts can be made to train them or they may be given a check-list to ensure that initial scrutiny is completed at their end. Agents are allowed to submit applications only once in two days and the number of applications are restricted to a maximum of ten per day. This will only lead to piling up of applications at their offices while no action is taken to improve the throughput of the RPO. Both these restrictions should be removed and, if necessary, some specific counters should be earmarked for them at the RPO. Screening at other locations: Table 2a of the case shows that around 28 per cent of the passports are received at Ahmedabad. It would speed up the initial processes at Ahmedabad if bulk of the passports coming in from other locations are pre-screened. Initially, this can be tried in districts of Anand, Baroda, Mehsana, and Surat which are sending in more than 10,000 applications. Submitting of forms: Apart from the existing modes of receiving applications, nationalized banks could be included so as to widen the reach and accessibility. Customer-friendly website: A customer-friendly website maintained by the RPO would enable the applicants to know the status of their applications. The applicants could also get answers to other queries through the website. A prompt response to queries is critical.

RPO PROCESSES
Reporting of delays: It is seen that, in some cases, the granting of the passport takes a very long time. Sample 5 took 119 days and Sample 7 took 117 days. We can assume that these delays were due to complications. If so, there should be a system in place to identify cases that take inordinately long time and bring them to the attention of senior officers. The same could also be thought of in other departments. Thinning queues: As seen in the survey in Appendix 2 of the case, long queue at the counter is a source of irritation to customers. Like the any counter-any train system of the Indian Railways, all counters should be so designed that they can handle all jobs. This will thin the queue, as delays in a particular counter will not hold up too many customers. Parallel activity: While the activities pertaining to PVSR are in progress, the processes in the RPO can be completed till the writing stage (as suggested in Appendix 2 of the case). Out of the sample of 23 cases studied, only three cases have been held up for an excessively long
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Delays: An analysis of the data for random samples (Table 1 of the case) shows that, on an average, it takes about 72 days to receive the PVSR. The reasons for the delay at police chowkies are stated in the case. Unless they are made more efficient, the public may have to put up with this delay. The number of days taken for granting a passport varies widely from a minimum of 15 days to a maximum of 119 days. The reasons for the delay have to be analysed and steps taken to reduce the time gap. The average time taken for writing and dispatch was four days and 12 days respectively which could be reduced further by engaging casual workers.

MOTIVATION, ATTITUDE, AND BEHAVIOUR

Customer expectations: In a fast liberalizing and globally integrating Indian business scenario, the expectations of the people for good service are bound to rise. Higher efficiency levels are today visible even in the government sectors, whether it is a monopoly like the Railways or a competitive environment like the banks. The low preference for Tatkal (Table 4 of the case shows that only 2.4 % have opted for it) shows that the customers are unwilling to pay a higher price to speed up the process of issuance of their passports. Also, interestingly, the survey that was conducted at the RPO (Annexure 2 of the case) shows that the customers were primarily dissatisfied with the behaviour of officials, long waiting time in queues, need to travel to Ahmedabad, etc. No longer can an organization be looked upon as a regulation bound, bureaucratic set up. The RPO is in the business of service delivery and, therefore, it has to deliver. It is imperative for the RPO to take steps to induct a positive work culture. Mr Swain is seized of the problem but the case does not specifically mention

the steps he is taking to remedy the situation. Some suggestions that may be considered are as follows: Through regular communication from the top, the employees must be made to see the bigger picture and the role they are playing towards the larger cause. The senior officers must take the lead and work with the front-line officials understanding their problems and solving them. The quality and quantum of work expected from each employee must be clearly specified. A simple system of day-end or week-end MIS could be introduced which lets each employee know about his or her performance. High performers should be recognized and rewarded. In a governmental setup, monetary rewards may not be feasible but there could be appreciation letters and other such nonmonetary incentives. Table 6 of the case shows peaking of workloads in the months of May, June, July, and August. Average number of applications received for these months is 25,279 against an overall nine-month average of 20,989. Since the given data pertain to only one year (2001), we are not sure whether this is a recurring yearly phenomenon or specifically pertaining to the year 2001. If it is a recurring phenomenon, then manpower requirements for this peak load servicing should be thought of early to avoid backlog build-up. A systematic training calendar for the employees has to be scheduled. The case states about the lack of skills. Regular training not only takes care of this but also increases the feel good factor for the employees. Implementing the above recommendations will help in increasing customer satisfaction.

CASE ANALYSIS IV
Sumita Rai
Faculty, HRM Group Indian Institute of Management Lucknow e-mail: sumitar@iiml.ac.in

T
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he case is concerned about the delay in issuing the passport. The problems associated with and possible reasons for such delay, including the difficulties that passport office faces, have been high-

lighted. The case may be taken as having two segments. The first part elaborates upon the process involved in obtaining the passport application form by the applicants and also the process which the passport office
AHMEDABAD REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE:

follows for the final issuance of a passport. The second part of the case deals with the change initiative that had been taken by Ahmedabad Regional Passport Office (RPO) and the efforts made by the Regional Passport Officer, Ahmedabad, in 2001 to reduce the response time and make the service better with improved consumer focus. The administrative and procedural changes that are under way are supposed to be due to automation of passport writing, indexing, opening up of new RPOs, and efforts to clear backlogs. Greater support may come through de-bureaucratization of the police verification and other involved processes and an investment of more funds and approval for newer procedures from higher authorities in the national governance.

and flexibility are missing. It is a regulation-oriented activity and hence the person in charge of a given activity cannot select and change the job aspects and procedure easily because in order to make any changes in the processes and strategy, an approval at a higher level in the government is essential that does not come about easily.

CHANGING PROCESS AND DESIGN: A RE-ENGINEERING APPROACH

Strategic change and re-engineering is a desirable process for any organization visualizing such a need and it is one of the most critical factors for successful management of business. The Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is a widely practised approach for bringing about change in organizations. BPR involves rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements so that it can increase the performance, reduce the cost, and increase the service and quality. It is not about incremental improvements in the old processes but about inventing a better way of delivering value to customers. This process is based on viewing business as a process instead of functions and the aim is to optimize processes so that they bring maximum value to customers and provide maximum customer satisfaction. This new way of viewing business may include the use of various methods including information technology. It is carried out through projects or programmes with a clear start and end. The whole process may cover different stages. Usually, there could be three important stages: determining the requirements, designing new processes and system roles and responsibilities, and implementation. The present case is one such example of a change attempt in the direction of enhancing external customer satisfaction and internal customer motivation wherein the first stage has met with success and the second and third stages are under progress.

KEY ISSUES
There are some key issues identified in the case which are as follows: There is a need for effective time management and an appropriate strategy to make the whole process simple and understandable to the common person. The kinds of facilities that RPOs have are not up to the mark and resources are not appropriate. Due to involvement of a number of different stages and formalities, the process becomes very complex. There are three stages in the whole process: the first stage centres around the preparation by the applicant before submitting the application, the second stage includes the processing that the RPO office does, and the third stage covers the verification processes that have been done by the police department. Different stages follow different time schedules. The third stage for instance, involves PVSR, that takes more than half the total time required for the whole process. It has been observed that the assumed time for the whole process of issuance of passport is 151 days; however, police verification alone consumes 57 per cent of the total time. It is clear from the case that even the basic and primary facilities like clear information for the applicant is lacking. The behaviour of the passport officials may not be said to be cooperative. The process is very slow and the number of applicants is high resulting in the long waiting time. Accountability seems to be lacking and, therefore, discipline and responsibility are not visible. Besides, the motivation level is low and multi-skilling
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RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

To re-innovate the process and strategies is itself a difficult job but it is more difficult to bring about changes where activities are not under the direct and sole control of the officials at the RPO level, as the ultimate and crucial control, power, and authority rests at a much higher level in the respective ministry of the national government. Hence, bringing radical change may be a

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time-consuming and difficult process. However, these processes can be implemented according to different time and priority schedule. In order to improve the image and efficiency of the RPO, the concerned Regional Passport Officer may like to prioritize his activities in terms of three time zones: short-term, medium-term, and long-term.

will need work force rationalization. The case shows that around 25 per cent of the employees are busy in indexing. They can be safely relocated to counters and other administrative jobs. More collection counters could be opened to clear regular queues. Motivate employees: Motivating employees has always been a challenging task, but without it no significant increase in performance can be achieved by any organization. Therefore, motivating the workforce is a pre-requisite for any organization desiring improvement in performance output. The behaviour of employees matters a lot particularly in the context of service organizations. This would necessitate a few changes that the RPOs may be required to make; for example, the working conditions of the employees need improvement and proper resources for improved performance need to be provided. The context/environment where they work is not very pleasant either. The employees may be given monetary or non-monetary incentive if they accomplish a required target or an important assignment. Apart from that, the RPOs could organize multi-skill training programmes for empowering the employees. This would be essential in case downsizing is required as a result of automation or just to alleviate monotony among employees performing the same task over the years. As suggested by the authors, periodic workshop on rules and procedure for the RPO employees might be beneficial as well. Rationalize workload: The measures suggested in Appendix 2 of the case are appropriate and implementable. Reduce PVSR time: This is a critical activity which consumes 57 per cent of the total time. But, it is not totally under the control of the RPO alone. RPO can only play an advisory role in improving efficiency in this area. We cannot afford to do away completely with police verification. What seems possible is to reduce the three-tier process into a two-tier process. For example, the applications may be directly sent to the respective police stations (instead of police headquarters). Exhaustive lists of area-wise police stations can be collected from the police headquarters to facilitate the process. This may reduce the lead-time substantially.
AHMEDABAD REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE:

Short-term
Reduce backlog: RPOs may appoint some more casual force/employees on deputation to clear the backlog on a fast track. Such exercise should not in any way affect/ disturb the normal process of the RPO. A task force may be formed for this purpose with a specific time-frame. Learning from this exercise could lead to identification of reasons for the backlog so that these can be taken care of in future. Computerize enquiry: The best way to reduce crowd in the RPO premises and also lower the client anxiety is to computerize the enquiry process. The proposed suggestion is relevant and may be implemented. However, the passport application forms should not be made available through external outlets as suggested in the case. Outsourcing may not be a wise decision, particularly in light of the recent media exposure of the cases of various scams such as the one involving stamps. This will increase the risk of impersonation and fraudulent transaction adding to the risk of undesirable state of affairs like infiltration of non-bonafides as regular Indian citizens in other countries earning a bad name for the nation and creating difficulties for the genuine and respectable citizens wanting to visit abroad. It might help if the passport issuance process is such that it requires either the incumbent to visit the passport office or a suitably authorized person equivalent to a government servant at least once. Discourage agency services: The practice agents submitting application forms and performing other jobs on behalf of the applicant should be discouraged by all means. It might safely be assumed that an efficient on-line enquiry system and quick disposal of cases will reduce the importance of agents.

Medium-term
Relocate employees: Computerization at RPO will make some manual activities redundant and hence

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Long-term
Long-term activity may include some radical changes such as complete re-innovation where the approval of the concerned ministry is important. To make these changes in the passport issuing process, long-term planning should be made. Certain strategies such as rationalization of PVSR may require changes in the working structure of the police station. For example, the chowkidar (constable) may seek a time from the applicant (over telephone, if available) and visit the applicants residence to verify all documents at one go. Visiting the residence of the applicant is much better than the present system of calling the applicant over to the police station. The authenticity of the credentials of the candidate is better judged by visiting the candidates residence. The concerned police office should also inform the applicant in advance to keep the documents that he/she may like to verify ready. These two steps (one medium-term and one long-term) with respect to PVSR could significantly reduce the overall lead-time. Taking all these factors into account, the current RPOs should put in place a plan that may involve a simple process, with all the facilities including the current technology, online enquiries, and some additional staff, as due to the impact of globalization combined with ever increasing population, the number of passport applicants may increase day by day.

CONCLUSION
There are certain concerns that may not be readily applicable in the Indian context, for example, the possibility of a complete renovation and redesign of the Police Department, considering the ground realities pertaining to the developing nature and vast populace of the nation. The road to world class service is full of difficulties. Even if it is attained, it may not be available to all the 28 RPOs in the country. However, that should not deter honest attempts to make it happen some day and in some desirable magnitude. The authors have done a commendable job in making an elaborate analysis of one such attempt that has met with reasonable success. Probably, other officers and RPOs can try to emulate the Ahmedabad experiment with suitable modifications and improvements in strategies as and when demanded by specific contingencies. The points identified to be relevant through analysis of one such real life attempt and the recommendations made by the authors are of great significance. They deserve the much needed attention of the designers, providers, and practitioners of such public service systems and the media alike. Implementing the recommendations would no doubt pave the way for Indian citizens to contribute to the national good in a better way especially in the era of globalization that most certainly demands movement across national boundaries.

CASE ANALYSIS V
Harekrishna Misra
Associate Professor Institute of Rural Management Anand e-mail: hkmishra@irma.ac.in wning a passport is the fundamental right of a citizen of any country. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of Government of India stipulates certain time frame to issue a passport or provide related services to the interested citizen. However, in practice, the result is far from satisfactory. Apparently, every citizen who has the experience of dealing with the concerned officials for obtaining a passport would describe his/her displeasure. Mr Swain, Regional Passport Officer of Ahmedabad, is empathetic to this reality and is proactive in bringing about improvements in the process. This case critically discusses the issues leading to delay in providing the basic service
VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 1 JANUARY - MARCH 2004

and provides scope to understand the action taken and examine the possibility of improving the process.

FUNCTIONING OF RPO, AHMEDABAD: A PROCESS APPROACH

An organization if studied under a process approach is expected to have three broad categories of processes: core process, support process, and management process. A transaction is an activity or group of activities that are supported by any or all of these processes. Effectiveness of the transactions in the organization also depends on these processes.

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Core Process
These are processes for which the organization exists and the goal of these processes can be directly derived from the mission of the organization. Transactions form an integral part of the processes and in the case of RPO, Ahmedabad, core processes are clearly defined as issue of passports and providing miscellaneous services related to passport. Appendix 1 of the case elaborates various transactions that are generated for the process and indicates the concerned branches that are responsible for the same. Each category of services offered can be generated as a transaction and each transaction has a different characteristic depending on its type. A transaction for a process has to pass through different stages in the process or related processes (core, support as well as management). A transaction can be termed as effective if it meets the goal/purpose within the time desired or specified. Figure 1 reflects waiting time of a transaction initiated for the completion of various stages of the core process. The case aptly reveals that these transactions do not meet the desired time frame as stipulated by MEA as shown in Table 1. The case, while defining the transactions well, does not indicate the time taken in practice for all the categories of transactions. Details on this aspect could have given a scope to analyse the effectiveness of the transactions. Another set of transactions in the form of enquiry of status of applications, enquiry for information, and obtaining application form plays a vital role in meeting the goal of the core process. These transactions can create overload for the core process if not handled properly. Though no waiting time has been stipulated by MEA for issue of forms and related services, effort has been made by the RPO and CPO to provide download facility for application from RPOs website (http:// 164.100.53.6/passport). Printing and sale of forms has also been privatized by MEA from 2001. However, the
Figure 1: Transaction Time for Issue of Passports
8.28%

Table 1: Transaction Details

Transaction Description (Category of Appendix 1) A, B, M C D L V H Expected Time of Completion 5 weeks One week 3-4 weeks 12 weeks 5 weeks with PVSR 3 days without PVSR One day Time Taken as of March 2001

21 weeks Not available Not available Not available 21 weeks Not available Not available

Source: Appendix 1 of the case.

website does not entertain miscellaneous services. There is no data available in the case that could substantiate reduction of burden on the RPO to cater to these services physically by the RPO staff since 2001. However, it is a definite step to ease the burden. Figure 1 indicates mean transaction time in the core process with the goal of issuing new passports. It reveals that around 50 per cent of the time (mean) is lost for obtaining a PVSR. Figure 2 suggests that the number of applications for fresh passports has steadily increased whereas the number of applications for miscellaneous services has decreased. Miscellaneous services needed by the prospective citizens are quite less in comparison to the demand for fresh passports. Figure 3 suggests that miscellaneous services constitute less than 10 per cent of the total application at any point of time since 1997. Therefore, attention on issue of new passports should be the goal of the core process which is rightly diagnosed by Mr Swain. Further, suggestion of one queue for services as recommended in Appendix 2 of the case by the student is also justified.

Support Processes
These are ideally the processes that make the core process happen. The goal of these processes is derived
Figure 2: Growth of Applications for Services in RPO, Ahmedabad
Number of Applications

Receiving PVSR Granting application Writing passport

2.76%

39.31%

49.66

Dispatching

1000000 100000 10000 1000 100 10 1

Fresh passport applications Miscellaneous services applications 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Year

Source: Table 1 of the case.

Source: Tables 2 (a) and 3 of the case.

AHMEDABAD REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE:

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Figure 3: Constituents of Cateogry of Applications Received

120%
% of Applications

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% % of Total Applications (Fresh) % of Total Applications (Misc.) 1997 95.96% 4.34% 1998 90.18% 9.82% 1999 92.25% 7.75% Year 2000 93.32% 6.68% 2001 96.68% 3.32%

Source: Tables 2(a) and 3 of the case.

from the goal of the core process as well as the mission of the organization. Even in the absence of any transactions or any demand from the core processes, these processes need to exist for efficient functioning of the organization and the preparedness of these support process eventually leads to the success of the core processes and concerned transactions. In the case of RPO, Ahmedabad, support processes are not organized properly. One of the major support processes is the PVSR report which is external to the organization. As per Figure 1, transaction waiting time on PVSR constitutes around 50 per cent of the total time and as has been explained in the case this is a genuine concern. As Mr Swain rightly said, recommendation to reduce the importance of PVSR needs approval from the
Figure 4: Process Interface and Flow

CPO and probably a systemic change is necessary. Other support processes are internal and these are (as detailed in Table 1 of the case) granting, writing, and dispatching. Figure 1 indicates that the waiting time in granting is around 40 per cent. This is again a major problem. In order to appreciate the role of support processes, it would be worthwhile to understand the process interfaces and flow as shown in Figure 4. While each process has its transaction time computed from the time of receipt of request till the delivery of service, the respective process owners are expected to monitor the process through the guideline set by the management process. Transactions are initiated by the citizen intending to get services and the overall time is computed as T1..T10. While waiting time observed for

>90%

T1

( C )

T10

Enquiry <10%

Miscellaneous services

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9

PVSR (S) (External)

Granting (S)

Writing (S)

Dispatching (S)

Note: T1-T10: Transaction time, C: Core process, S: Support process, M: Management process.
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Services received

Fresh applications

Interfaces: DPOs and RPO

Issue of passport

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PVSR is external support process (with least control), the second process where latency is creeping into the organization is through granting. Since it is internal to the organization, it needs an in-depth analysis and Appendix 2 of the case provides ample and justified observations to improve upon this process. However, in order to organize core processes and support processes as desired, the management process needs to be defined efficiently.

Management Process
These are the processes which create and maintain the fabric through which core and support processes function. Behavioural analysis and strategy, setting and monitoring of indicators, interfaces, and assigning responsibility to actors as appropriate are the major deliveries of this management process. Organizing management process is on the agenda of the RPO, Ahmedabad.

Behavioural Analysis and Strategy

Mr Swains dilemma is quite genuine in terms of behaviour of the processes. As the case indicates, a strategy probably is in the agenda to handle the situation of backlogs. Table 2(b) of the case indicates a sharp rise in backlog during and after 2000 whereas growth in volume of applications has not increased in that proportion which is attributed to reduction in the number of employees. As Mr Swain rightly observed, the organization is highly centralized and decentralization would be necessary to improve processes. Decentralization of CPO and RPO level may, yield improvement in the process. But, further decentralization at district level might bring in more latency to the process since each district will add certain sub-processes and actors as well. An optimized approach to bring in re-alignment to

processes would perhaps be necessary. Figure 5 provides a possible interface across these three layers and each layer might add its latency independently to the transaction/process. The case does not provide enough input to address the issue of decentralization and possible latency that might creep in or might be expected. Other indicators of change initiatives which are prioritized by Mr Swain are automation of indexing, printing and web-enabled information exchange. Probably, these are insignificant and may not effectively deliver at the macro level since the plan is disjoint. As regards web-enabled information exchange, it is meant for enquiry on applications and status of application which constitutes 10 per cent of the load. Disjoint automation of activities might prove ineffective in the long run. Decentralization if made effective might add complexity to the disjoint automation process. PVSR which is a major contributor to the latency for core process seems to be beyond the reach of the RPO. However, strategy should be formulated by the management process to address this issue. The second highest contributor to latency for core process is the internal mechanism called granting. The automation plan of granting, writing, and dispatching should be on an integrated mode in order to reduce latency of support processes and latency of transactions. In the absence of an integrated mode of automation plan, attempt for process re-alignment layout, as shown in Figure 1 of the case, would probably be less effective in the long run.

Setting and Monitoring of Indicators, Interfaces

Process improvement relies heavily on process interfaces and process logistics in order to make a transaction materialize as per expected latency. Tables 2(b), 6, and 7 of the case indicate backlogs and these are due to bad interfaces and non-availability of performance indica-

Figure 5: Interfaces for Passport Offices

CPO

Layer 3

RPO

#1 #1

RPO

#28 #n

Layer 2

DPO

DPO

DPO

Layer 1

Note: CPO: Central Passport Office, RPO: Regional Passport Office, DPO: District Passport Office.

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AHMEDABAD REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE:

tors for the processes of Ahmedabad RPO.

Assigning Critical Success Factors for Actors

The actors in processes are responsible agents to make transactions materialize effectively and also own the processes as directed. The assignment of actors is a part of management process. Table 5 of the case indicates an imbalanced assignment of such actors in each of the core and support processes. Figure 6 reveals that though PVSR contributes the most to latency (50%), allocation of personnel is the least (<10%). Reverse is the case with granting process and probably this is due to the inclusion of branches which manages various categories of transactions. More data on the volume of transactions in each category and number of personnel attached branch-wise would have provided a scope to analyse further. The knowledge of actors stabilizes over a time period where processes are organized, well-defined, and are not subject to change. This leads to process maturity as well. In this case, RPO should have attained process
Figure 6: Resource Allocation for Services
90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Receiving PVSR Granting applications

maturity as process rules/logistics are well defined. The case, however, does not elaborate the critical success factors of actors which would have provided some insights into the process maturity.

CONCLUSION
Though process re-alignment is being thought to be the attribute behind improvement in processes, Mr Swains attempt to look into the future is quite genuine. The recommendations made by the MBA student are also aimed at process re-alignment and change in process rules and logistics. Automation of activities is also on the agenda. However, there seems to be inadequate planning for management process. This calls for a system redesign in lieu of process re-alignment. The automation plan should be based on the system as a whole but should follow a management information system plan which can only originate from a successful approach to organize management process.

% Resources

% of waiting time % of staff allocated

Writing passport

Dispatching

Types of Processes

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it cant be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it. Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915

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