Language:
Search
 

Department of Land Transport
Thailand

The Problem

The DLT deals with 25.24 million vehicles with an annual growth rate of 2.75 million vehicles. Every year this number of vehicles must be renewed their registration tax with the DLT. The vehicle registration renewal is not the only task of the DLT, but this task takes all vehicles owners to contact us every year. Another important threat is the central policy to freeze or limit the size of Government Officers. With the increasing load of work, limited staff, and out-of-date working methods led to low levels of public satisfaction. Each service transaction composes of many officers with long procedure. For example, the vehicle registration tax required 5 officers for 7 steps and took average service time around an hour per vehicle.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The key benefit is that, with the same number of officers, the DLT could serve more load of work with the shorter period of time. For each transaction, less number of officers is required. The registration renewal has become a one-stop service, from five reduced to only one officer. Many of redundancy works were removed, and led to the higher efficiency of the officers. Another interesting benefit is the removal of an application form for registration renewal. This step termination has saved the DLT a lot of storing space and the government budget.

Moreover, millions of vehicles owners, who must contact the DLT for newly or renewal their vehicles registration, receive much higher quality and responsive service. Service time was ultimately reduced from an hour per transaction, to 1.2 minutes per transaction. Significantly, the following implementation of Drive-through for tax has let people to pay while driving their vehicles, create a much higher level of service with no parking and walking at the DLT. This service is also implemented in other branches in the provincial areas.

These improvements led to the DLT being awarded the ‘Public Service Quality Award’ from 2003 to 2007 from the Office of Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC). Public satisfaction levels improved significantly to a high of 97% positive reaction. Consequently, the DLT feels that the implemented change has been a great success and is proud of being the first organization to be awarded the ‘Public Service Quality Award’ for five consecutive years.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The DLT recognized the problems affecting the public and came up with some new ideas to improve the current service provided. The decision to initiate change was made by the DLT executives. Two set of committee were established, the Re-engineering Committee, and the Quality Service Assurance Committee. The former was responsible for service process re-engineering, while the latter deal with the service standard. The output from these committees with the regular meetings of the middle management formed the initiative due to their familiarity with the issues. This initiative formulation has resulted to the understanding of the officers for the principles and the necessity for the implementation, and consequently led to the change with less resistant.

The Vehicle Registration Division launched a pilot service test for three days. People were serviced with surprising satisfaction, almost without waiting time comparing with previously for an hour. The officers report the result to the Director-General. The executives satisfied the service test and implement the initiative at every branches of the DLT.

(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.
The main objectives of the initiative were:

• Instant service. The creation of a drive through service which would dramatically reduce the process time as well as enable a larger number of customers to be dealt with.
• Ubiquity. The aim to provide service in a variety of areas, not just the one location that was currently provided.
• Integration of the back office. Combine back office sections in order to reduce the number of work processes and also time taken.
• Extending opening hours. Opening the department for longer hours as well as providing a service during lunchtime, with an aim to eventually provide a 24/7 service via an automated system.
• Extending channels of service. Providing alternative methods and location to pay vehicle tax. Payment at banks, district offices, post offices and other locations were all proposed, as well as the possibility of payment at 24-hour convenience stores, counter service or private inspection centres. The idea of an e-service was also promoted where the public can pay vehicle tax via the DLT website, thus reducing the numbers of customers to be processed at physical locations.

The drive through scheme is mainly funded through many source of funds such as DLT officials welfare fund, revenue stamp fund, Local Administration Budget and private sector support. This means that the cost of any new service methods are drastically reduced and not absorbed by the public.
The sharing of data between public sector departments resulted in the creation of a substantial database in a very short period of time, as any information needed already existed and did not have to be obtained from the customer and then inputted into the system.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The chronology of the initiative can be separated into two key stages:

• Phase One (1996) – The introduction of ICT into the office was a major step toward change. Initially all staff had to be familiarised with computers as very few had previously been using ICT. The next step was the digitization of information in order to reduce errors and the numbers of lost files. At this stage it was thought that the creation of a network would be too costly, but an attempt to create a service network would be attempted during Phase Two. During Phase One, service time was reduced from two hours to 30 minutes.
• Phase Two (2004) – The main development of this phase was the shift from a localized to a centralized computer network. This meant that data could be shared amongst departments for the first time on a nationwide scale. This creation of a national database has benefited many departments as well as the general public. The training of all staff, creation of a database and standardization of working methods resulted in staff having to adopt new ways of work. Staff were encouraged that all change must be followed if the initiative was to work.
Teambuilding was promoted, the facilities in each section were improved and flexibility in working methods was encouraged. Staff became more knowledgeable in both methods of ICT and increasing office efficiency. These developments resulted in an increase in positive feedback from the public. During Phase Two, service time was further reduced from 30 minutes to 1.2 minutes.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles that were encountered during each of the two stages were as follows:

• Phase One – Given the dramatic shift in working methods in the department some staff were quite understandably hesitant to or concerned about change. There was some degree of reluctance to adopt new working methods from many officers. This was particularly true with the introduction of ICT. Some staff saw ICT as having only limited applications within the office, whereas others were concerned that ICT would result in a higher workload (some officers believed that all work would have to be backed up with a paper copy, resulting in a double workload); this was particularly true of long-time employees.
Through meetings, training and seminars, staff were shown how the introduction of ICT would result benefit both themselves and the general public. Officers were also told that limited knowledge of ICT would be a hindrance regarding promotion, as a sound ICT background and knowledge would be vital in middle management. Staff were encouraged to retrain to adopt new working methods so nobody would be left behind.
• Phase Two – In order to achieve centralization of the computer network, each office must integrate data in order to create a database. Data must be verified in order to avoid duplication of information. It was during this period that concerns were raised about the capacity of the network. As the system was used very heavily, it was decided to expand bandwidth in order to prevent overuse becoming an issue at a later date. In anticipation of system interruptions, generators were installed. This was so that even a power outage would no longer be an issue.
Benchmarking with the private sector was encouraged, but by this stage most of the significant concerns had already been addressed.

(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
• Financial – Major infrastructure was supported by the government. Smaller scale financial commitments such as introduction of drive thru service and Shop thru service were funded by internal fund, Local Administration fund and private sector.
• Technical – The introduction of a computerized department and related technical training was vital to the initiative. Improvement in communication between staff (both horizontally and vertically) was as a direct result of ICT.
• Human – As a result of the training of staff and greater efficiency of staff, there was no need to recruit new officers. Staff are better motivated, better educated about ICT, more responsive and have a better service mind, all of which are a direct result of the initiative. The higher efficiency and use of ICT have enabled the department’s budget to be allocated to other areas and not on new employees using outdated and inefficient working methods.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
As the primary nature of the initiative was the change from a paper-based office to an IT-based one, any possibility of reverting to old working methods is unlikely. Staff are now encouraged to voice any concerns through regular meetings and suggestions. Working methods are constantly adjusted and improved through seminars and workshops, as well as visits to similar departments overseas. The unity of staff has resulted in a more willing and service-minded outlook, much more accepting of change.
DLT is popular with visitors from government offices both nationally and internationally, resulting in an international network of working methods and practices.
As the nature of DLT’s work is very specific, direct transferability to other departments is not always possible, but the initiative of increased use of ICT, KPI, knowledge targets for staff, and time and work process reduction have been utilized by many departments. Adoption of DLT’s initiative by other organizations is more abstract, but nevertheless vital to change. Most of the changes were initiated within the organization so this encourages other departments to change from within and not as a result of external orders.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
At all stages of the initiative and during each phase, lessons have been learned and exchanged with other departments. Some of the lessons learned were technical; others were unique to change itself. It can only be truly effective if it is initiated internally, not externally. It has become obvious to us that change can positively affect both staff and the public equally. Each party has a direct influence on the other, in a kind of push-pull action. Officers at all levels have learned that change is something to be embraced, not something to be afraid of. A much more positive view of change is now evident amongst staff and the public too. Change is only possible if the public wants it. We have learned that all change must be in response to the public’s needs.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Department of Land Transport
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Srirat Yaporm
Title:   Ms  
Telephone/ Fax:   ++6622726141
Institution's / Project's Website:   ++6622725626
E-mail:   jj_srirat@yahoo.com  
Address:   Vehicle Registration and Tax Standard Bureau
Postal Code:   10900
City:   Jatujak
State/Province:   Bangkok
Country:   Thailand

          Go Back
Print friendly Page