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Enquire, Collect, Return
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
Singapore

The Problem

Our Core Business:
Singapore Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)’s mission is to ensure that the movement of people, goods and conveyances through our checkpoints is legitimate and lawful. The ICA administers and uphold Singapore’s laws on immigration, citizenship and national registration fairly and effectively.

The ICA’s service offerings are grouped under its two strategic focuses of Identification and Border Security. As part of ICA’s Identification services, ICA’s Services Centres also issues passports, identity cards and long term pass cards to Singaporeans, Permanent Residents, and foreigners with long-term stay facilities in Singapore.

Situation before Introduction of Initiative
The ICA provides a suite of online services to allow the public to apply for / replace these documents. Checks on the application status could be done via phone enquiries. Upon approval of the application, a letter would be sent to the applicant with an appointment for collection of the document at ICA’s Services Centre during office hours. The applicant could reschedule the appointment through ICA’s online service or through the phone.

As part of ICA’s continual process and service improvements, and the need to manage increased volume of applications, the following areas were identified as opportunities for enhancement of ICA’s service delivery:

a)Projected Increased in Number of Applicants Resultant from Policy Changes:

Singapore Biometric Passport (BioPass) was issued in 2006 with a 5-year validity period, ICA anticipates an increase in the number of applications as the first wave of BioPass adopters’ passports start to expire.

b)Centralised Collection & Return of Documents; Increased Crowd Situation at ICA Services Centres:

- The increase in number of applicants also resulted in increased number of applicants calling at ICA Services Centres for authentication of identity and collection of their documents, particularly during eves of public holidays and School Holidays.

- It is a statutory requirement for Singaporeans, Permanent Residents, and foreigners issued with Singapore official documents to return such documents when their status in Singapore changes, e.g. renunciation, cancellation or expiration of their documents or status in Singapore. This also serves as a security requirement to prevent misuse of cancelled or expired documents.

c)Increased Application Volume, and Phone Enquiries on Application Status:

The increase in the number of applicants translates into increase in enquiries on the status of their applications. This taxes heavily on ICA’s customer relations officers who operate only during office hours.

d) Increased Waiting Time at Service Counters of ICA Services Centres:

The above factors also contributed to an extended waiting time at the service counters at ICA Services Centres, as ICA also had to cope with walk-in applicants without prior appointments.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Multiple Channels, Minimum Visits & Many Benefits;

ENCORE embraces the ICA strategic thrust to provide customers with multiple service channels and minimum number of visits, extending numerous benefits to ICA and its diverse customer base.

It aims to review the application-to-collection process and alleviate the crowding of existing ICA channels (e.g. counters, phone lines). ENCORE operates without additional manpower or infrastructure resources, while enhancing existing critical security and authentication requirements to offer the following service and operational benefits.

ENCORE has intended service benefits. By connecting to applicants through active participation on their part, applicants gain convenience, service enhancement and time-savings:

a)By placing its enquiry portal online, available “24x7”, ENCORE provides a convenient web-based alternative service channel for real-time enquiry, and instantaneous response on the status of applicants’ applications, without being subjected to waiting time on the phone or the restrictions to phone ICA only during office hours. ENCORE is also a centralized portal to enable applicants to check the status of all applications tied to the same applicant.

b)Applicants are also empowered with choice over where and when they will collect and return their documents – they are not restricted by geography and the limitations of ICA’s operating hours. This reduces applicants’ traveling time and expenses for commuting to ICA.

There are also operational Benefits. Processes are improved while resource utilisation is maximized.

a)As a holistic, customer-centric tracking mechanism,
ENCORE adds value by holistically reviewing and further streamlining the application-to-collection process. i.e. Instead of tracking the applicants as a singular process by the ICA products and services applied for, ENCORE treats each applicant as a unique entity, mapping all potential multiple linkages with ICA and a historical record and family-tree/relationship map. This improves ICA’s operational processes and proactive service offering approach to achieve service excellence.

b)Optimising Resource Utilisation: Through technologies employed by ENCORE, ICA has expanded its capacity to securely deal with increased volume of applications without being constrained by a limited geography (one issuing /returning location vs. multiple points) or manpower (operating hours and limited manpower). Less effort is also expended for enforcing the statutory requirements for return of ICA’s documents.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Joint Collaboration;
Through user feedback and regular system reviews, ENCORE was proposed jointly by ICA Management together with officers from the Services Centres, Corporate Communications Division (CCD), and Technology Division (TD) to enhance these touchpoints – enquiry, collection, and return activities – with technology. ENCORE would develop alternate channels for the processes owned by individual units within ICA.

A) Operational Processes: Services Centres
Citizen Services Centre (CSC) handles passports and identity cards for Singaporeans. Permanent Resident Service Centre (PRSC) handles identity cards for Permanent Residents , and Visitor Services Centre handles Long Term Pass cards issued to foreigners to permit their extended stay in Singapore.

B) Customer Interface: CCD
The ICA Call Centre, manned by the customer relations officers, is under the purview of CCD which also provided the ‘customer’ perspective in the entire process.

C) Technological Enablers: TD
Gathered the diverse operational and customer interface requirements and proposed appropriate solutions.

D) Implementation

- iEnquiry. The Services Centres provided inputs on their core application-handling systems, which are managed by different technology vendors. Eventually, 17 types of processes were identified and an open tender was called to select a vendor to integrate all data components into the iEnquiry web portal.

- iCollect. Two tracks were developed. First, CSC identified a partner with the ability to provide alternative collection outlets and satisfy ICA’s security requirements. CSC as the project champion and System Owner ensured the smooth deployment of the Alternate Site Collection project. When the requirements were finalised, an open tender was called to select a vendor to provide the necessary applications and hardware. In the second track, TD sought the help of industrial partners to develop an automated document dispensing system, with a biometric authentication interface. iCollect is expected to be the first system in the world to automatically dispense documents upon successful identity authentication.

- iReturn: PRSC identified weaknesses in each of the existing channels for the return of Long Term Passesi, i.e. mail-ins, drop-boxes, and even turning up at the ICA manned counters, which iReturn addresses completely. iReturn verifies that the card is indeed cancelled or expired before accepting it. Upon acceptance, a receipt will be issued. This ensures that no “junk” are deposited, and provides a proof of the return. iReturn also logs the return so that all transactions are auditable, improving the overall accountability of the return process.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
ENCORE is implemented through several projects. The key strategy that underscores the project was to provide ICA customers with multiple service channels, minimum number of visits to maximize benefits to all stakeholders.

Maximising Benefits:
To handle enquiries on application status, iEnquiry was developed to provide a one-stop service for the enquiry of application status filed under the applicant’s NRIC number (National Registration of Identity Card - a citizenship identification number), or an application number if the applicant is a foreigner. This means that if a citizen is replacing his passport, sponsoring for the student pass for a friend, and at the same time applying for the Permanent Residency for his wife who is a foreigner, he would be able to track the status of all three applications at one go via the centralized portal. This also provides a unified view of all the outlying business transactions ICA has with an individual. In the spirit of creating a unified enquiry portal, iEnquiry also incorporated existing online verification portal that provided online authentication of identification cards (e.g. for homeowners to check if a foreign worker’s card is valid, and therefore eligible to rent a place).

Multiple Service Channels, Minimum Number of Visits:
To alleviate the time and commuting costs incurred in the collection of documents issued at ICA, ICA collaborated with an existing strategic partner – Singapore Post (SingPost), as well as introduced iCollect to act as alternative collection points. Applicants simply specify their preferred collection location, i.e. SingPost outlet or iCollect, and collect the document at their own convenience. At the SingPost outlet, applicants can expect the same stringent verification regime as instituted at ICA (i.e. fingerprint verification as true owner of the document to be issued).

At iCollect, the self-service kiosk will automatically issue documents upon successful identity verification using multi-modal biometrics capability (fingerprint and facial), and applicant’s verification that the information on the documents is correct. There are plans to produce more kiosks with “24 x 7” availability.

To encourage the return of Long Term Passes, ICA also created iReturn, a self-service kiosk for the return of Long Term Pass (LTP) cards. There are also plans to create kiosks with “24 x 7” availability.

Extending System’s Outreach - Public Engagement and Publicity Efforts:
As an initiative improving front-facing processes affecting ICA’s diverse customer base, technologies and processes linked to the initiative were showcased in public media, including ICA’s Workplan Seminar, where members of the media were invited to witness the exhibitions of ICA’s new projects. Post-implementation, additional exposure was created through newsprint.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
To ensure the best value for money, projects in the ENCORE were awarded based on an open tender process. As products are not contingent on each other, they were developed separately and concurrently to ensure that ENCORE’s benefits can be delivered as quickly as possible.

For Alternate Site Collection, changes to existing backend systems handling movement of each type of document were first completed in early 2010. Subsequently, a set of web services were designed to handle inventory management and issuance at SingPost. Hardware was deployed in time for the launch of the service in October 2010. To mitigate risks, the service is deployed in 2 phases, with the issuance of passports first, followed by NRIC and long term passes in the first quarter of 2011.

For iEnquiry, tender was called at the end of 2009 and the system was completed mid 2010 and was commissioned in November 2010.

For iReturn, tender was also called at the end of 2009, and due to the complexities of creating a new physical hardware, the system is currently in its pilot phase, starting since September 2010.

As there was no precedence for iCollect, a proof of concept was pursued by ICA and showcased in early 2010. The tender was called in end 2010 and the system can be expected to be up and running by early 2012.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Instituting Robust Process for Risk Management:
Being an improvement to how ICA provides identity services for members of the public, ICA is careful to consider the dangers of mis-issuance of document as well as information from the systems involved – be it allowing users to access data that do not belong to them, to SingPost issuing the wrong documents to applicants, to documents being lost in transition.

To avoid these complications, due process is implemented to account for all documents from point to point. The delivery of documents from ICA to SingPost outlets are accounted, so that the documents must be tallied before they can be accepted, and accepted before they can be inventoried, and inventoried before they can be issued. The same due process is expected from ICA officers handling the iCollect kiosk, where documents brought out from the secured document-production facility must be tallied and inventoried on the iCollect system.

Even in the actual collection process, SingPost personnel must follow the proper authentication steps before issuance – this includes a thumbprint verification on the person’s identity with the identity of the applicant, and a verification of the same provided identity with the identity of the document to be issued. A similar process is used for iCollect, with the additional use of facial recognition technology as a second-factor authenticator.

In the reverse case, while iReturn does not require the owner of the identity card to be the person returning, every card returned is logged with iReturn and a receipt is printed as proof.

Even for online enquiries, iEnquiry requires applicants to log in using a “SingPass” (a web login authentication unique to a person’s NRIC - http://www.singpass.gov.sg/sppubsvc/abt-us.html ) or the application number specific to the applicant.

When working with trusted partners like SingPost, system designs are also designed with their input. For example, SingPost’s inputs were obtained for the development of the inventory and issuing applications for the Alternate Site Collection project.

As the creation of some of these alternative service channels are quite new to ICA, ENCORE is developed with scalability to expand the size of these channels – there is provision for users, counters, and sites that SingPost can add to the Alternate Site Collection project.

iReturn and iCollect are also designed to be scalable and relocatable. Unique to iCollect, the internal storage housing the documents can be pooled with additional iCollect fronts,e.g. 3 iCollect machines may draw from the same inventory of documents.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
ENCORE uses technology to achieve much of the aims. The projects require effort on the part of technology companies to integrate existing systems and provide new interfaces, engage new services if none exists before. No server hardware is required as many of these systems rely on existing databases.

a) Some interfaces are necessarily accessible as e-Services online (e.g. iEnquiry is accessible as a web portal, and SingPost staff use e-Services to access applications that are part of Alternate Site Collection project). Such services require hosting the eServices on the Singapore government’s web-hosting environment called SHINE, so that access can be provided via the Internet, and applications hosted on the environment can be managed and protected from online threats.

b)For kiosks like iCollect and iReturn, additional resources were needed to design and build the physical kiosk. The kiosks must be hardy enough to withstand a certain level of abuse so as to keep the documents within them safe, yet appear friendly and approachable.

c) As collection require authentication of the applicant, biometric readers are used. In the case of Alternate Site Collection, applicants must verify their live fingerprint against multiple checks (database and actual document). In the case of iCollect, a facial recognition engine equipped with camera is added on top of the fingerprint verification.

As with all technology developments, users and project managers are involved from the start to ensure that the final deployment of these technologies fulfill the operational expectations placed on them.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The initiative is sustained by government budget. Equipment used in Alternative Site Collection will be purchased by the SingPost itself, after being tested and accepted by ICA through the vendor maintaining the software system.

The ENCORE initiative is transferable in so far as it is applicable to the processes of most document-issuing government offices. The consolidation of enquiries on a unified web portal, or the identification of trusted partners to issue documents on behalf of the issuing authority, or even the creation of automated issuing machines are not ideas applicable exclusively to ICA’s processes. Indeed, many of these solutions are not new – what is unique in ENCORE is the way the initiative uses existing solutions for document issuance.

ICA adopts the idea of the “jukebox” concept to automate the issuance of documents by adding a layer of biometric authentication. The ubiquity of automated tellers and the ever-present requirement for the public to apply for documents from the government makes iCollect a particular replicable enhancement to many aspects of government processes.

The introduction of biometric screening to the parcel/mail collection process (where recipients can choose where to collect their parcels) similarly extends the document-collection service to SingPost (i.e. non-agency) outlets, providing multiple-fold increase in ICA’s service points.

Similarly, the concept of providing one-stop services to customers so that they can manage all their transactions at a glance has been around since companies designate handlers for specific customer accounts, but iEnquiry combines this customer-oriented concept with the strengths of having an existing identification system(i.e. a unique identification number for each person based on Singapore's National Registration of Identity Card - NRIC - framework).

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The projects in the initiative were only recently active, but the figures are encouraging.
Over 50,000 enquiries were made on iEnquiry since it was commissioned 1 month ago. iEnquiry also provided Corporate Communications Division with a interface to provide all-in-a-glance information about the customer. As underlined by ENCORE’s aims, service can now be provided in a customer centric way instead of handling requests piecemeal.

For Alternate Site Collection, operational since October 2010, several thousands of collections were made through this system the short span of operations. With the wave of renewals coming on the expiry of the first batches of BioPass, the number is expected to increase.

The need to replicate the authentication processes from ICA staff to a third party (SingPost) or an automated system (iCollect) has taught us valuable lessons in ensuring that nothing valuable is lost in the transition. For example, making a visual check of the applicant against the identity document’s photo may come as second nature for many of us, but it required the creation of a facial-recognition module to ensure that iCollect can do the same (if not better).

With the implementation of iCollect, it will be the first-in-the-world self-service kiosk to dispense Government-issued document (i.e. BioPass, NRIC and LTP) which make use of secured biometric verification. This biometric methodology ensures that Government-issued documents will only be dispensed to the correctly identified applicant. If the rollout is proven to be a success, future plans like expanding to other government agencies (e.g. driving license and work permits), to rollout to ICA’s trusted partners’ (e.g. SingPost) premises to allow the collection of documents by applicants without travelling all the way to the issuing office.

iReturn is currently in its pilot phase and has been receiving returns daily at a modest rate. The numbers can be expected to rise once the service is open “24 x 7”. Like iCollect, the iReturn’s strengths can be replicated for other agencies that require the public to return issued documents (e.g. work permits)

Given the constraints in ICA Services Centres as a service window, ENCORE has shown that alternative channels are valid methods to expand existing services without increasing either manpower or physical counters. This also enables partners like SingPost to add value to their current businesses as well.

More importantly, the applicant saves time and has choice over how best to access ICA’s services, all the while being assured of the same level of checks are in place, be it during Enquiry of application status, Collection of identity document, or Returning these documents. These new service channels are also easily extensible without the increase in manpower or new physical counters - a significant constraint in operations in land-scarce Singapore. Service innovation is therefore achieved without compromise to security and integrity.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   David Lee
Title:   Senior Technology Executive  
Telephone/ Fax:   65 6391 6275
Institution's / Project's Website:   65 6296 0910
E-mail:   lee_tai_wee@ica.gov.sg  
Address:   ICA Building, 10 Kallang Road
Postal Code:   208718
City:   Singapore
State/Province:   Singapore
Country:   Singapore

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