Ahmedabad Regional Passport Office:

Rapid Response Time by Process Redesign

Q1. Current Status of RPO Performance

The current process is lengthy and with work overload on RPO employees

Average of 151 days for application turn around of which 28 RPOs issued a total of 2 million passports Ahmedabad RPO:

police verification took around 86 days

Serves 25 districts and 4 cities Receives about 235,000 applications annually Backlog of nearly 100,000 applications Only 3 hours for inquiry and application receipts Only 50-51 out of the 57 allocated and 103 approved staff Lengthy and multi-step process at RPO

Q2. Problems in Existing Process

There is a huge bottleneck at the PVSR process. The process takes 72 days on an average which is 50% of the total time required to secure a fresh passport. The RPO Ahmedabad is grossly understaffed. Although the approved staff strength is 103, only 57 are currently employed. Technology has not been exploited for the routine processes such as indexing, scanning etc. There is no mechanism to send the passport form electronically between the RPOs and the police stations. The entire process is sequential and there is scope to make it parallel while verification is happening at PVSR. The passport form is complex and can be simplified which will reduce data entry errors. All the activities are done at the Ahmedabad RPO itself and some like selling of forms and acceptance of fees could be outsourced. The system is highly centralized and a person directly facing the issue cannot take corrective measures. Enquiry service can be web-enabled so that number of applicants visiting the RPO can be reduced. The time taken for scrutiny of applications received by post is more and can be reduced.

Q3. Causes of Problems

PVSR Process:
Applications are physically transported through 3 layers of police offices. Data registration also happens both at the police hqs as well as police chowkies. HQs can be bypassed and the verification can happen at the relevant police station itself. The RPO has little control over the PVSR process . Some of the police offices are inundated with verification work. There is no online system to smoothen the verification process by the police.

Lack of use of Technology:

Facility to check the status of the application online is not available. The RPO and the Police offices cannot share application forms electronically which would have reduced the delays considerably. Automation in writing and indexing processes will bring down the manpower requirements considerably.

Q3. Causes of Problems (Contd.)

Sequential Processing
The processes are happening one after other while some can happen in parallel while the verification is going on in PVSR.

Understaffing
The available staff is being used for non-critical and routine functions such as indexing and pasting etc. These operations could be outsourced to external vendors.

Uneven Workload
The Ahmedabad RPO is receiving more orders than its designated capacity.

Granting process
The granting process is taking 57 days on an average (40% of the total time). This could be due to errors identified at this stage. A more robust scrutiny process can reduce the time taken by the granting process.

Q4. Process Redesign Options

1. Implement Token System
Implementation: Provide a computer-generated token at the enquiry counter for each candidate The token number should be generated based on the Service Category (fresh passport, renewal, changes etc.) and on first-come-first-serve basis for that category Token should show approximate wait time and/or number of pending tokens Display system should be installed that shows the token number and the corresponding counter

Value: Reduced queues as candidates can step outside the RPO instead of waiting inside for their turn Reduced customer complaints and Improved relationship with them

2. Setup another RPO in Surat for fresh Passport Issue

Implementation: Setup another RPO in Surat that will process applications from districts in its vicinity

Value: The processing load on Ahmedabad RPO will be reduced

Q4. Process Redesign Options (Contd.)

2. Redesign PVSR Process
Implementation: Attach PVSR form (original and duplicate) with the application form Candidate to get the police verification done by submitting the required documentation with his/her respective police chowki The constables complete the PVSR process and provides the duplicate of verified PVSR to the candidate. The police chowki sends the verified PVSR slip to the RPO via their Police Station and Police Headquarters [Note: If there is no operational or legal requirement of routing the verified PVSR through the Police Station and Police HQ, then send the verified PVSR to RPO directly] Candidate attaches the duplicate PVSR to his/her application and sends it to RPO RPO links the application and the original of verified PVSR, compares the original and duplicate for mismatches and logs the status in the system

Value: Wait-time of the application processing on account of PVSR is eliminated Resources of RPO are saved as they no longer need to forward the PVSR to the Police

Q4. Process Redesign Options (Contd.)

3. Document Scrutiny by Registered Agents
Implementation: Train the Registered Agents to perform scrutiny of applications [Note: If possible, penalize Registered Agents for incorrectly scrutinized forms]

Value: As 50% of applications are received in this mode, the burden of scrutiny by the RPO is reduced, thereby allowing the staff to perform other activities

4. Document Scrutiny in RPO at Scrutinizing Stage

Implementation: Increase the quality of document scrutiny at Scrutinizing stage by training the staff members

Value: Application completeness without any errors will ensure a reduced wait-time at Granting stage

Q4. Process Redesign Options (Contd.)

5. Change Floor Layout
Implementation: Move the Tatkal+Phy handicapped+Sr. Citizens counter closer to the entrance Instead of having separate counters for fee collections, each counter from 2 to 10 should perform both application scrutiny and fee collection

Value: Moving the Sr. Citizen counter will facilitate easy access, thereby improving customer relationship Having counters do both scrutiny and fee collection will facilitate more applications to be processed per-person per-day

6. Automation and IVR

Implementation: Automate the Passport Writing and Indexing process as described in the case

Value: Improved productivity of the staff; Improved security of passport by making it tamperproof