A Study on the Office and Systems Management

Land Transportation Office

David, Genixon Jacinto, Doane Kevin Quiambao, Karlo Fernandez, Carlos Alipio Serafin
In partial fulfillment of the requirements in PA 113: Office and Systems Management

Introduction Land Transportation Office is a government agency engaged in land transportation rules and regulations enforcement, government intercession on motor vehicles, licensing and permits, traffic cases and collection of revenues from fees and fines. Basically, LTO is a good agency to be studied when you want to assess and analyze a government agency engaged into frontline services. In the emergence of modern technologies, anyone and anything should cope with and this does not exclude transportation. In our country, we always hear a lot of negative reactions and problem relating to our transportation system, from the traffics rules to getting a plate, issues of kotong and long lines in licensing. The government did a lot of projects and programs that can enable it to respond to the demands of the public. New technologies were introduced. Changes in the process have been done. These improve government services, such as those LTO offers, that cater to the needs its client the public. As Public Administration students equipped with the knowledge learned in PA 113 course on Office and System Management, the group will use the Land Transportation Office as their subject for analysis of office and systems management. The objectives of the group are the following: look at the management of the agencys records and property, the systems being used, its office equipment and lay-out and corresponding designs and their management information system and design; analyze the topics mentioned above, check for any discrepancies and problems and come up with recommendations and solutions; and lastly compare the theories and knowledge learned in class and the how do these really work in practice, with regard to LTO. Scope and Limitations LTO offers a lot of frontline services to the public, ranging from payments of traffic violations and fines to getting permits and licenses. The processes of those services are also ranging from very simple to very complicated and intricate processes. Thus, the group decided to focus only on the students license. The group will not only analyze the process and the
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system of getting that license, but it will also tackle how the agency manages the records of those who applied, the supplies being used in relation to the process and the corresponding management information system. Furthermore, the group will assess the Diliman Branch of LTO when it comes to the records management program and systems and procedure of the agency. DIliman branch is adjacent to the central office of the agency, where the procurement, supply management and management information system and database operations are located. In this regard, the group will assess the said topics on the central office rather on the field office of the agency. The group believes that in that way, it can have a clear assessment of the agency in a broader sense. The group encountered difficulties in getting information regarding the supply and property management of the agency. This is because some of the data it needed were confidential and were not supplied unless approved the division chief. And because of the numerous failed attempts of the group to interview the division chief, the group had failed to acquire substantial information regarding the supply and property management of the agency. Instead, we have generalized some information about supply and property management of the agency through the RA 9184 or the General Procurement Act and information gathered from the agencys official website. Methodology The group will use a qualitative approach on its assessment and analysis of the specific frontline service mentioned above. It will compare and contrast the observations of the group during its series of visitations in the agency versus the theories learned in class. The group will also base its recommendations on the knowledge it has gained from the professor and from the readings. Book references related to administrative office management will also be considered. In studying the systems and office management of the agency, the group decided to look at the supply and property management and management information system of the central office vis--vis the LTO- Diliman branch. The reason for this is that the management of the supply, property and management information of the agency is done in a centralized way. This means that from the local branches to regional offices all over the country, they follow the same process of procurement and use the same database and supplies.

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However, when it comes to their records management and systems and procedures of students permit, the group looked at the Diliman brach of LTO. It is necessary if we look at one branchs office lay-out and location, process flow and forms design and control in order to have a clear analysis of the systems and procedures of the students permit. Furthermore, the records management of LTO is decentralized, meaning that the branches of the agency have different way of managing their records.

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Overview of the Agency Regulating motor vehicles and providing regulation and licensing of operators and drivers have been practiced since February 6, 1912 through the enactment of Legislative Act No. 2159. It was the first formal law on land transportation. The law established an Automobile Section under the Administrative Division of the Bureau of Public Works. The law and the office underwent a lot of changes and reorganizations that took effect after its first implementation. In 1922, Legislative Act No. 3045 was passed into law compiling and incorporating all laws governing motor vehicles and the Automobile Section was upgraded to Automobile Division. Later on it was changed to Division of Motor Vehicles through the enactment of Legislative Act No. 3992 on January 1, 1933. In the fifties and early sixties, Philippines underwent rapid economic development due to industrialization. Thus, more and better roads were constructed and there was a need for more and better means of transportation. As a result, there was an increase in the number of motor vehicles in the country. In this regard, the Department of Public Works and Highways issued Administrative Regulation No. 1 on June 5, 1961 that transferred the collection of the registration and miscellaneous fees from the provincial and city treasurers to the vehicles agencies of the province and city of the then called Motor Vehicles Office. The office was then again changed into Land Transportation Commission. Its main function is to "control as far as they apply, the registration and operation of motor vehicles and the licensing of owners, dealers, conductors, drivers and similar matters." It established regional, provincial and municipal or city offices in the country. It was divided into two bureaus under the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) on July 23, 1979 under the Executive Order No. 546, namely, Bureau of Transportation (BOT) and Bureau of Land Transportation (BOLT). The BOT performs functions relating to registering motor vehicles and licensing of drivers and conductors while the BOLT is concerned on franchising of the public utility vehicles and enforcing land transportation rules and regulations. The Land Transportation Commission was reinstated on March 20, 1985 through the Executive Order 1011 and merged the functions of BOT and BOLT under one commission headed by a chairman and four commissioners. After the EDSA Revolution I, the

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commission was again abolished and two offices were created, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), which has functions same as the BOT, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), which has the functions same as the BOLT. The MOTC was also renamed as the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC). All these changes took effect with the promulgation of Executive Order No. 125 which was later on amended by Executive Order No. 125-A dated April 13, 1987 and 226 dated July 25, 1987. LTOs vision is to have a well-developed transportation system that will play a vital role in improving the quality of life of the Filipino people, particularly in providing a more viable means of land transport and a secured travel for transport users and commuters. Its mission is to rationalize the land transportation service and facilities and to implement effectively the various transportation laws, rules and regulations. Currently, the mandate and main function of LTO are the following: inspection and registration of motor vehicles; issuance of licenses and permits; enforcement of land transportation rules and regulations; adjudication of traffic cases and; collection of revenues from fees and fines for the government.

The Revolution of LTO from Manual to Automation The Congress enacted Republic Act No. 6957, an "Act Authorizing the Financing, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Infrastructure Projects by the Private Sector", as amended by R.A. No. 7718. This law provides the legal framework for the Build-OperateTransfer (BOT) Program of the government and the parameters by which infrastructure and/or development projects may be undertaken. Under this contractual arrangement, the project proponent undertakes the construction, including financing of a given infrastructure facility, and the operation and maintenance thereof within an agreed concession period. At the end of the concession period, the project proponent transfers the ownership and operation of the project to the Government. The concession period is determined primarily by the length of time needed for
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the facilitys revenue stream to pay off the proponents debt and provide a reasonable rate of return for its efforts and assumed risks. The Governments BOT Program is concentrated on six (6) sectors where improvement or enhancement is needed to conform to certain standards. These are the power sector, transport sector, environment sector, information and communication technology (ICT) sector, health sector and property development sector. Under the ICT sector, the Government had contracted a number of BOT projects including the land transportation vehicle registration and drivers licensing implemented by the Land Transportation Office (LTO). The Information Technology BOT Project of LTO covers the development of a System Integrated Information Solution Infrastructure which will interconnect LTOs district offices nationwide, enable on-line transaction processing and integrate its mission critical business processes. The Project intends to enhance and improve LTO operations and eventually address the following concerns affecting LTOs functional efficiency: Long turnaround time for motor vehicle registration and drivers/conductors licensing; Absence of central repository of land transportation data for fast real-time inquiry and verification; Voluminous renewal of license applications; Voluminous traffic, motor vehicles, franchising and licensing law violations cases; Poor service level; Petty graft and corruption; Presence of fixers and proliferation of fake documents.

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Management Information System and Database The LTO started its automation in 1998 through the Land Transportation OfficeInformation Technology Project (LTO-IT), which aims to develop an Integrated IT System that will interconnect about 300 LTO offices nationwide, integrate its critical business processes and enable on-line transaction processing. According to Mrs. Grace Pempin, the Chief of the Management Information Division of LTO, the agency envisions a well-developed transportation system that will play a vital role in improving the quality of life of the Filipino people, especially in providing a more viable means of land transportation and a secured travel for our transport users and commuters. LTO-IT project is a comprehensive computerization program operated by STRADCOM Corporation. The government of the Philippines and the STRADCOM Corporation underwent a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) Scheme of the BOT Law in the Philippines. The BOO scheme allows for government projects to be built and operate with no cash out from the government. The cost of these projects will be shouldered by the private sector. The computerization project at the Land Transportation Office has been an enormous success. It transformed the old manual bureaucratic procedures into a more efficient and more client-friendly system. Transaction time for drivers license issuance was cut from several months to about two hours; so, too, with motor vehicle registration. The automation project did not only increase the volume of transactions. It has also increased LTO revenues by more than 100%, averaging P15 billion annually and making the agency one of the top revenue earners. We were not able to check the management information system of LTO because according to Mrs. Mempin, it is not yet completely done. However, we were able to check the database being used in the field offices. The information being asked in the application form is also used in the database. According to Ms. Mempin, STRADCOM, being the developer, is the one responsible for the database creation while the requirements (what should the database contains), inputs and operation are done by the LTO. The field offices also have their own local network or connection. They can track those licenses or renewals that are already done, the new plates that are already distributed, how many people were given new licenses and accommodated by the field office and how much did

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they earn for the day through payment of fines. In this case, the chief or head of the field office can monitor, evaluate and assess their performance. However, STRADCOM has not yet able to install a monitoring and evaluation part of the system wherein the central office can actually check and have a list those licenses with fines from the field offices. They need to ask for permission first, thru a letter address to the IT company, in order for them to see and monitor the lists. In addition to the vision of the government of automating the transportation system in the Philippines, the databases of the LTO, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulating Board (LTFRB) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) are interconnected. In this way, those motorists who have still unpaid fines are monitored. No one can renew their license if they still have unpaid fines in LTO. Identification of and Analysis of Problems The main problem of the LTOs database according to Mrs Mempin is procedural. This problem occurs because of the employees inefficiency and lack of proper training. Incorrect data are being input in the database such as change character, misspelled names, wrong address etc. Also, most of the employees do not follow guidelines. Unfinished transactions are done which is result of the employees carelessness. She cited one example wherein in the database, the plate is already given to the person, yet the in the database of the central office, the plate has not been released. In order to mitigate such problems, the central office is asking for separate reports from the field offices in order to countercheck those reports gathered from the database. Another problem that in our opinion is detrimental to the management information system of the agency is the corporate issues within the STRADCOM. We have identified it as a problem due to the unstable management of the IT company. There is an instance wherein the operation of the MIS and database in LTO stopped for one hour, thus creating anguish to those people seeking licenses or renewals. Because of this, LTOs Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres proposed to stopped the contract with STRADCOM, go back to manual while looking for another company that will be able to provide a new database to the agency. This created outrageous outcries from different sectors of the society.

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Recommendations We can say governments plan of automating the transportation system of the country through the automation of LTO is somehow successful, however, certain problems in the implementation should be solved in order for it to become fully operational and successful. First, in order for them to solve their procedural problem, LTO should be the done initiating the training and development of its employees. According to Mrs. Mempin, the training is done by the developer. The employees underwent one month of training before they can use the said database. List of names who will undergo training are given to the company from the head of the Management Information Division chief in the central office. The group believes that continuous training should be done in order for the employees to have a full grasp of the database. Furthermore, retraining should be done to those employees who are consistently having problems in operating the database. Operating the database should not only be taught to the employees. Simple troubleshooting, in case there is a disruption in the database, is also necessary. The development and maintenance of the database are the responsibility of the company, however, there are moments that they are not always there to resolve problems regarding the database. Thus, if the employees are knowledgeable in simple troubleshooting, they can operationalize the database in a jiffy in case it will undergo simple problems. Moreover, the issue of STRADCOM should be fixed in order to continue the smooth operation of the database. Though it can be considered as an external problem, this poses a problem to the attainment of the full automation project of the agency. Thus the group suggests that the government should review the contract with STRADCOM and eventually seek other possibly companies that can provide same service without going back to manual operations. Basically, the database itself does not post any problems according to Mrs. Mempin. She also believed that the database is well managed by the company thus helping the agency achieves it ultimate goal of serving the public in most convenient way. The group believes that the problem of having a central monitoring and evaluation should be addressed as soon as possible. We believe that the central office should monitor and evaluate the performance of the field offices. In this case, they can motivate field offices by awarding recognitions to those who are performing best and reprimand those who are performing poor.

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Supply and Property Management System Just like any other government agency, the Land Transportation Office is also following the rules and procedures of conducting a procurement process based on RA 9184 or the Act of Providing for the Modernization, Standardization and Regulation of the Procurement Activities of the Government and for Other Purposes. The bidding process in the central office is headed by the Property Section in coordination with the Finance and Management Division. The current head of the Bids and Awards Committee of the agency is Atty. Gomer J. Dy. For safety and transparency purposes, the agency did not allow us to see the members of the BAC of the central office. However, they assure us that they follow the guidelines in RA 9184 and its implementing rules and regulation. In addition to the BAC in the central office, each regional office has also their own BAC. According to Section 2, Rule V of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulation of RA 9184, the Head of the Procuring Entity may create separate BACs where the number and complexity of the items to be procured shall so warrant. The BACs may be organized either according to: (a) geographical location of PMO or end user units of the procuring entity; or (b) nature of procurement. Similar committees for decentralized and lower level offices may also be formed when deemed necessary by the Head of the Procuring Entity. With the LTO-IT Project, the agency has now been able to post current bids and notices in their website. They also post such announcements in the Philippine Government Procurement System (PhilGEPS). We were able to research the procurement process of a specific supply essential in providing the frontline service of the agency. The supply being procured is printing and delivery of LTO application forms. We should note that despite the fact that regional offices have their own BACs, certain supplies are only procured in the central office. This includes forms, pertinent documents, licenses and official receipts and plates. In order to attract possible bidders, first they will post an invitation to bid in the LTO website and PhilGEPS. Written in the invitation are the following:

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Total amount of the procuring supply based on the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC);

Possibility of rejection when excess in bidding price; Effectivity of the contract once chosen as the winning bidder and general rule on the contract; Way of conducting the bidding (in this case, since it is a government agency, bidding should follow an open competitive bidding procedures);

Description of an eligible bidder in the Bidding Documents; Bidding restrictions (pursuant to RA 5183); Pre bidding date and actual bidding date; Deadline of submission of bidding documents;

After checking all the bidding documents submitted by the possible bidders, the BAC will check the documents submitted and reject those who did not qualify to meet necessary requirements for the official bidders. In this case, the qualified bidders will continue to the actual bidding date, and thus announce the winning bidder afterwards. The steps in this process are the same in what we have discussed in the class. Identification of and Analysis of Problems Recently, the agency was dragged into a controversy after the expose that the contract of the company responsible for the supply of drivers license cards expired in 2003 but still they continue to offer the service to the government. According to RA 9184, a government contract once expired needs to go through another round of public bidding in order to protect the public and ensure that the government always gets the best service at the most reasonable cost. However, Amalgamated Motors Philippines Inc. (AMPI), continue to operate despite having no valid contract with LTO. According to LTO Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres, AMPI and LTO has a quantum meriut arrangement, which means as much as he deserves and is often used as basis to continue a service without an agreement or contract.

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As we can see, there are the two sides of the coin. One, the agency strictly follows what is stipulated in RA 9184, also known as the Government Procurement Act. While on the other side, the agency is dragged in an issue of non-compliance with the law. Recommendations In this regard, the group suggests that the agency should strictly comply with RA 9184. Bureaucracy has been long tainted of corruption, which the group does not want to tackle in this paper. However, by showing that the agency able to conform to the rules and regulation related to procurement, the national government should be the one addressing the issues of corruption within the agency. The strengthening of the Commission on Audit for example is a way to ensure that all agencies, not only LTO, follows the prescribe guidelines and procedures of procurement process. The agency should also look for ways to promote accountability and transparency in their procurement process. One way is to strengthen its internal audit and give them autonomy of doing investigations of anomalous procurements.

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Records Management Program of the Office As we have discussed in class, effective records management program is very important because of the increasing volume of records and information that must be maintained and it can help to reduce the operating costs of an organization and ensure the proper care of the organizations records. In addition, effective management will lead to efficient retrieval of data in case the stored information is needed by the organization. LTO as an agency primarily involved in licensing and permits, it is imperative for it to have an effective records management program. If for example it does not have one, the transportation system of our country will be in jeopardy. All violators of traffic rules and regulations will not be reprimanded. Anyone could renew their license, despite their violations, without proper checking on their identities since there is no clear way of retrieving records. There are more damages if LTO does not have a proper records management program. Record s Management Program of Student Licensing The LTO uses a decentralized control over its records. Each division manages their own records since each division has separate functions. The division responsible for issuing licenses and permits has different records management compared to the division that handles registration of motor vehicles and even with the division who enforces land transportation rules and regulation. Decentralization for records management even extends to field offices or branches such that students license division has different records management to nonprofessional and professional division. According to Mrs. Edna Ramos-Garvida, Chief Transportation Regulation Officer of the Diliman branch, the students license has a different records management to the non-professionals and professionals because of the following: They have different requirements. Non-pro and pro licenses require more requirements than the students license. Getting a non-pro and pro licenses has more complicated process than the students license. The process even includes medical examination, NBI clearance and drug testing. Non-pro and pro licenses requires more information than the students license. Thus they require more complex ways of managing records than the students license.

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However, if we limit ourselves in observing the students license division, the division uses centralized control for their records management. It is because the authority and responsibility of the records are vested solely to their file supervisor. Records for students licenses are kept in the students license section of the branch. A person who seeks to have non-pro or pro license should be holding a students license for at least two months straight. A person who has an expired students license (after one year of registering) cannot register for a non-pro or pro license and should get a students license again. He has to fill out an application form again, though his record in the management information system of the agency is still available. In the students license section, the filing method used by the branch is non-alphabetical method with numerical indexing system through the transaction number indicated in every form. Using this method, they can easily access during retrieval those who want to upgrade or move to non-pro and pro licenses and because transaction numbers are in order or continuous, during retention schedules, they can easily categorize old forms to new ones. The students license record section in the branch has its own personnel. The Diliman branch of LTO is one of the biggest branches of the agency. It is also the location of their central office, though they are two separate entities. It is essential for the branch to have good personnel for their records management program, specifically tasked to handle specific kind of license. The students license section has two file clerks, one requisition clerk and one file supervisor. According to the Mrs. Ramos-Garvida, they have more personnel for records management before. However, due to the modern technology introduced in the agency, they trimmed it down. With the modernization program of LTO, filing and retrieval of documents are now easy, since all the records should be input in the database, wherein unlike before, they need to find the information or data needed in a large pile of records in the records section. The branch also keeps a records retention schedule. Records retention schedule are done every four years. They showed us a retention schedule of the students licenses records applied for the months of January 2011 to April 2011. The records of those who applied for students license in those months are prioritized since they can now use their students license for their application to non-pro and pro licenses. However, those students licenses applied in

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within this month are not given priority since they will not be used by anyone within the remaining months of the year. We tried to ask for a copy of the retention schedule but the chief did not approve our request. The records being kept in the students license section include the application form and the copy of the receipt of payment attached with the form. These records are kept in a lateral filing equipment located inside the students license section, in a room beside the chiefs office. Retrieving the records in the students license section is necessary because the records are used for the application of a non-pro or pro license. However due to the technology acquired by the office, instead of retrieving the actual form, retrieving records are done through accessing their database to any computer in their office. Identification of and Analysis of Problems The branch has no clear way of disposing the application forms they have gathered. Mrs. Ramos- Garvida was not able to answer our question when we asked about the disposal of these records. Given the bulk of application forms they have, sometimes their retention schedule of four years is not also being followed. Sometimes, they throw the records even before they are not yet scheduled for disposal. Furthermore, students application forms are neither important nor vital. The group believes that the reason for these problems is that since the branch and the agency have the necessary information of the applicants, they do not give much attention to these records after they put it the database. Retention is also done through the database, thus manual records are not necessary for the branch and the agency as well. Recommendations The group suggests that the retention schedule should be cut short from four years to two years. Since the information of the applicants are already in their database and a person can move to non-pro or pro license after two months to one year, keeping the hard copy application forms for four years is not necessary. In addition, there should be proper disposal of the said forms. Information gathered from applicants is vital and it can be used against them if the forms fall to the wrong persons.

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Systems and Procedures Office Layout and Physical Location LTO is a transportation system service agency. It is the sole agency of the government that issues licenses for driving. It also provides testing area, examinations, and other processes that are pre-requisite for the application of drivers license. Having an objective to provide frontline service, the LTO office should accommodate numerous people every day. Therefore, the office should be capable of doing so in the most effective and efficient manner. Aside from the performance of the employees that provide the services, the office itself affects the work done by the employees. The factors to be considered are the site where the office is located, layout of the office, environment, and the equipments and furniture used in accomplishing office tasks. Site/Location The office offers frontline services for issuing drivers licenses as well as examination site. Therefore, the office is located nearest to the queuing area for those who want to apply for license. If the queuing area is to be considered, it has ample seats for those who are waiting and since is an open area, ventilation is satisfactory except for cases of hot weather that additional ventilation machines are needed. Layout The Licensing Division Office of the LTO has five divisions: Students License, NonProfessional License, Cashier, Examination Room, and Printing Area. The office is divided by solid walls made by wood with glass windows in the middle and metal grills on top. The glass windows occupy about 30 percent of the walls which means that you can clearly see the office from outside or from other divisions. All of the divisions have windows in front of the queuing area (at the top of the layout) for receiving transactions while only the Examination room and Students License division have doors that serve as main entrance and exit for the whole office. Attached to the Students License division is the office of the officer-in-charge. Similar to the walls dividing the other divisions, the said room has a large window for monitoring purposes. Also, the whole office has only one comfort room for all the divisions and is located at the back of the Students License area.

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Environment The group was able to observe the office during office hours, which means that the actual condition of the environment of the office was observed. To assess the ergonomics of the office, specifically the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), the group looked at the factors which affects the performance of the employees, namely: Indoor Air Quality, Noise, Lighting, and Spacing. For Indoor Air Quality, the office has four air-conditions distributed throughout the office that provides circulation of air and maintains a constant temperature which is very important for office environment. Temperature, through our observation, was about 26 degrees Celsius. The opening through the metal grills helps in ventilating air within the divisions. Because the office is concerned in processing applications, there was a lot of noise coming from conversations of people, from their paging system, and from noise produced by the machines they use (squeaks from typing, noise from printing machines, etc.). For lighting, the office uses Fluorescent lights with reflectorites to help distribute light and avoid putting too many lights in the office. Lastly, we believe that spacing is also important for offices especially for work that requires employees to work whole day in their work stations. In our observation, the office provides enough space for each employee to work with comfort in their workstations. They are provided each with work desks that are wide enough. Equipment and Furniture In our observation, the office has the right equipments in accomplishing their work. Each employee has a computer to work on. This would mean that everyone have access to their system throughout the day without the need to transfer to other workstation. There is also individual lateral filling equipment for employees handling forms and main filing equipment for masterlists, main records, etc.

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The office has only two printers, one for the cashier and one for the printing division. The office does also have microphones and speakers that are used for their paging system while an electronic queuing number for organization of transactions. There is also a bulletin board at the back of the Students License division where announcements and circulars are pinned so that employees would know if there are any. Identification of and Analysis of Problems Based on what the group has observed there are problems that the office experience due to the lack of equipment, deficient office layout, and space for other activities. In their testing area, the applicants answer their examinations at their laps because there were no proper desks provided. Another problem that we have observed is that there was no area provided for employees for other activities such as eating their lunch or other recreational activities. Instead they eat their lunch within their workstations where there is a possibility that they will mess with their work and also the lack of privacy doing their other activities not related to work. Noise can also be considered another problem because of the lack of divisions for transaction areas. There is a possibility that employees cannot focus on their work or can commit errors because of the noise. Another problem that we have identified is the lack of comfort rooms for the office. The office is comprised of twenty employees and they all share one comfort room. The group also observed that there were parts of the office that are bright while some parts have dimmer. In our opinion, it would be detrimental for employees because varying brightness of light can cause problems with regards to vision. Lastly, the layout office did not show any signs of support for expansion of the office even if they themselves admit that they need spaces for other activities. Recommendations The group suggests the following: Additional armchairs for the testing area so that the examiners will be comfortable when they are taking the exams; A separate room, located near the students license division, should be allocated to the employees. This room should contain tables and chairs and comfortable couches. In this room, the employees can eat their lunch and have a ten- to
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fifteen- minute break. This room should also have additional comfort rooms in order to address the problem of having only one comfort room inside the division. In this way, the employees can be motivated intrinsically. Well- lighted should always be maintained. This will help the employees do their job best and avoid procedural problems in database (which we have discussed earlier in the MIS). Elimination of noise can be achieved by changing the walls from wood to cement. LTO is one of the most visited agencies because of the service they provide. And for this reason, factors that negatively affect their performance should be removed or avoided to increase work output. Process Flow and Forms Design and Control For the assessment of the process flow, the group has acquired the process map for applying for a students license. (Please refer to the next page) First, there are requirements for the application for students license. These requirements are dully accomplished application form, Proof of Identity which is comprised of any of the accepted identification document such as Original Birth Certificate, NSO authenticated Birth Certificate, Passport, or any government issued document to prove age and identity (i.e. SSS ID, PhilHealth ID, GSIS ID, TIN ID, Pag-Ibig ID, Office ID, etc.). A letter of parental/guardian concerned that is duly notarized is an additional requirement for minor applicants (sixteen to eighteen years old). The process starts with acquiring an application form attached with a cue number. This application form will then be filled out with the necessary details of the applicant (i.e. name, gender, address etc.). After filling out the form and completing the requirements, the applicant will wait for his/her number to be called before requirements can be presented to the teller. Checking of requirements will be done on the first window when the attached cue number is called. Upon checking of requirements, the teller will encode the details of the applicants form to the database and will ask the applicant to wait until his/her name will be called. As the information is encoded, it will now be forwarded to the photo sig teller where he/she will announce the name of the applicant who will get his/her picture taken. After this,
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the application form of the applicant will be re-evaluated for corrections. If no corrections and problems will be found, the applicants form will be approved. Upon approval of the form, the applicant will be called again to pay the necessary fees for the transaction. When the applicant is paid, it is automatically forwarded to the printing window where the final output (students license) is made and is released to the applicant.

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Elements of Design Input Requirements needed in applying for student license permit such as application form, proof of identity (NSO or original birth certificate, valid passport), any legal government document (SSS ID, Philhealth ID, Pag-ibig, TIN card) and letter of consent if age is below 16 years old. Process It involves the checking and evaluating of the requirements, storing the applicants information in the database through taking pictures and signatures, computing and billing the necessary fees. Output Student license permit to be processed and issued in one day (given that the requirements submitted are complete) Feedback The ratio between the number of applicants who applied for student license permit in that day to the number of applicants who were given student license permit also on that day. Control Internal External Fixers, red tape in LTO Policies and procedures to be followed in order to apply for student license permit

Characteristics of the System Systematic steps are to be followed in getting a students permit Resourceful resources are not wasted due to removal of unnecessary work and make everything as efficient as possible Functional the LTO has been assuring the general that all motorist are aware of the traffic rules and regulations Simple there are 5 easy steps to follow when getting a students permit

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Responsive LTO has been attending to the needs of the applicants (ex. To avoid long lines additional counters are opened to accommodate others) Adaptable LTO made the application form available online Flexible special attention are given to those who are disabled

Forms and Design For practical purposes, the form given for the application of students license is similar to the form provided for non-professional license application. It is for the reason that the information (name, address, age, birthday, etc.) needed for students license is similar to what is needed for applying for a non-pro license except for the performance evaluation for the test required in the non-pro licensing. The form provides the right information needed for its purpose and are clearly displayed on the form. The form has the LTOs name with its proper logo at the top and what branch it belongs. It also provides the address of the branch but failed to provide contact information of the agency. The form also provides the form identification. Also, the items in the form are properly aligned and only few tabs settings are made. The form provides instructions at the upper portion of the form for better understanding of the information needed. It also provides better organization of data such as in the name tab, the family should be written first for efficient filing of data. The thickness of the paper, which is essential for determining the lifespan of the form, is satisfactory and attuned to the retention schedule of the physical forms in the office. The color of the form, which is green, provides greater cost in producing the form, however according to LTO, the color serves for security purposes. Identification of and Analysis of Problems The group did not see any problem with regards to the form used by LTO. The information being asked is adequate and necessary. They also follow the things we have discussed in class i.e. alignment, margins, paper etc.

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Conclusion As one of the agencies responsible for the transportation system in our country, the Land Transportation Office has shown to us that their office and systems management is one of the best, if not the best, in the country compared to other government agencies. The group believes that the LTO, through its effort of automation and developing the kind of service they can offer the public, has been successful in improving the frontline service they offer to us. However, we believe that the office and system management of the agency is not perfect. What the group has assessed is the Diliman branch of LTO, which we believed, is compelled to perform well since it is only adjacent to the central office. We have discovered some problems when it comes to their records management and systems procedures of the field office. With regards to their central office, issue of corruption in the procurement process is one of the highlighted problems in this paper. Though not directly connected to the office and systems management, the issue of corruption has been detrimental not only to the outcome or result of such act but also to the process or procedure set. We have seen that is also affects the office and systems management of the agency. Over-all, the group also believes that because of the automation project in LTO, the agency has set an example for other agencies which have frontline services and are still using manual labor. The using of new techniques and modern technology in providing service to the public should be one of the concerns of the government because it can hasten the transactions and also curb the usual case of red-tape in the bureaucracy.

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Bibliography Arellano Law Foundation. (n.d.). RA 9184. Retrieved September 25, 2011, from LawPhil Project: http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2003/ra_9184_2003.html Bayos, K. (2011, July 3). Driver's license cards' bidding delayed. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from Manila Bulletin: http://www.mb.com.ph/node/325229/driver Garvida, M. E. (2011, October 4). Chief, Transportation Regulation Officer, LTO-Diliman. (K. Q. Doane Kevin Jacinto, Interviewer) Land Transportation Office. (n.d.). Invitation to Bid for Procurement of LTO Form. Retrieved September 22, 2011, from Land Transportation Office: http://www.lto.gov.ph/Bids_and_Notices/bid_invitation_11102010b.pdf Montecillo, P. (2010, December 12). LTO takes over Stradcom after standoff. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from Inquirer.net: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101210-308127/LTO-takesover-Stradcom-after-standoff Pempin, M. G. (2011, October 4). Head, Management Information Divison. (D. K. Genixon David, Interviewer) Report on the Sectoral Performance Audit of LTO-IT BOT Project. (2004). Retrieved October 14, 2011, from Commission on Audit: http://www.coa.gov.ph/GWSPA/2004/LTO-BOT200403B.htm

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