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onePA
People’s Association
Singapore

The Problem

The PA’s "business" volume – course and activity participation – have been growing steadily. Managing this large number of courses, activities and services can be a daunting task.

While the PA have many repeat customers, it must also look for new customers. PA want to get as many and as wide a spectrum of the population as possible involved with it, and to experience and appreciate the need for social cohesion and racial harmony.

A need to enhance the service standards provided by PA’s business units so that PA can deepen relationship with customers.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
1) Widen outreach
The implementation of onePA has allowed PA to enhance its outreach in achieving its mission of fostering racial harmony and social cohesion. The online channel create awareness of the many activities, courses and interest groups available and offer opportunities for customers to sign up anytime and anywhere. Customers can also sign-up as PAssion card members to enjoy benefits and privileges. The project has contributed to an 18% increase in PA’s PAssion card membership from 417,000 in 2006 to 493,000 in 2007.

2) Enhanced customer’s experience
onePA offers customers a one-stop solution in their interaction with PA. Customers are able to access a comprehensive suite of services from PA which includes registration and payment for courses/activities, book facilities, sign-up for PAssion membership and interest groups. Customer preferences are captured so that offerings can be customized to the customer and cross-sold based on their preferences. The convenience and ease of use of onePA has contributed to an increase in the number of transactions completed online (compared to total transactions – counter and online) from 9% in 2006 to 14% in 2007.

onePA also allows customers to sign up for any services by visiting any Community Clubs, regardless where the courses or activities are held. This means customers will be able to make payments for any services offered by any Community Clubs at a single location.

3) Improved synergy among PAHQ and its business units
onePA provides a single view of the customers to facilitate planning and organizing of courses and activities, and to measure the effectiveness of the programmes in a timely manner. onePA caters to the needs of PAHQ and the Community Clubs to ensure efficient administration and operations of the Community Clubs. The consolidation of customer information into a single system means each Community Club can cross-sell courses and activities provided by other Community Clubs based on the preferences of the customers.

Under onePA, all memberships are consolidated under a common PAssion card membership. The PAssion card membership is a loyalty programme which allows all members to enjoy benefits and privileges at any Community Clubs and other PA business units.

4) Increased operational efficiency among PAHQ and its business units
With onePA, manual tasks are automated and shifted to the online platform. This has significantly reduced the efforts for non-core tasks and allows PA to focus on its main mission of community bonding. With support from onePA, staff is able to understand customers better and offer a diverse and innovative range of courses and activities. All customers, regardless of whether they are children, teens, adult or seniors will be able to participate in courses and activities which are relevant for them. This helps to enhance the relationship between PA and its customers.

The implementation of onePA has made it easier to identify customers’ needs and preferences. With timely and accurate data, PA is able to conduct analysis and to execute marketing campaigns for targeted groups of customers.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The key stakeholders that contributed to the development include PA senior management, staff from PAHQ and PA Business Units. The development also incorporated feedback from customers as well as best practices introduced by the vendor.

(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 objectives of the project were established in consultation with various key stakeholders:

1) To empower 2,000 PA staff with a unified view of the customer.

2) To empower 300,000 members and customers with a consistent, one-stop access to PA’s services.

3) To integrate services provided by all 105 Community Clubs (CCs) and by other PA business units.

The key strategies for implementation are as follows:

1) Customer centric approach to create a consistent multi channel experience and understanding of the customer to provide tailored services which are suitable for the customer.

2) Consolidation and integration as an underlying theme to complement the above strategy. Requirements shall be aggregated from the ground for shared IT services and policies and standards enforced. Data shall be aggregated for better visibility and analysis.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The project started with a visioning workshop with the senior management. In the visioning workshop, the vision and strategies of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are aligned with PA’s Mission & Vision.

This was followed by a stakeholder analysis to understand key stakeholders' expectations for the business change and the outcomes required to ensure success. The project team engaged the major stakeholder groups impacted by the change on a recurring basis, and determine the appropriate activities required to increase the commitment level.

Concurrently, the project team conducted a business process review and requirements study with the various stakeholders. An extensive exercise was conducted to validate the requirements and data conversion. This included the review of more than 200 key business processes and consolidation of data in one repository for more than 700 PA outlets.

The project team also assessed the organizational design and role alignment required to support the new business processes. The project initiated the setup of a new marketing unit at PAHQ to handle marketing activities. The role of the unit is to define marketing strategies and also to co-ordinate campaigns that are run across business units and island-wide.

The project established a change network with the objective to cascade organizational change within PA. The change network consisted of key staff which spanned the entire organisation, to enhance the communication of key messages and the level of adoption and commitment throughout PA.

The project team carried out communications throughout the entire project process, providing the right information to the right person at the right time, so as to better prepare the stakeholders for the changes. Face to face sessions are conducted to open up a two way communication channel to provide stakeholders with opportunities to feedback and clarify.

The project team organized a total of more than 200 training sessions for the staff prior to rollout. The training equipped staff with the right skills-set and knowledge to operate the new processes. The training sessions also enabled staff to manage and utilize the new system so that they can perform their roles effectively.

A support structure comprising command centre, roving team and helpdesk is setup to provide support during the transition/go-live period. The command centre served as the first contact point for any urgent issues reported by roving team and helpdesk. The roving team which consists of expert users visited the various business units to understand the operational experience on the ground and to provide on-site support where required. The roving team complemented the helpdesk in ensuring that support is readily available.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacle encountered is the different policies, processes and business rules that are implemented across the various business units. The implementation of onePA required the various stakeholders to review policies and streamline their processes and business rules. The Steering Committee (SC) and Project Working Committee (PWC) were established to address and resolve such matters.

(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
In total, the development involved 17 PA HQ divisions, more than 100 PA Business Units and more than 1000 PA staff. A role mapping exercise was carried out to ensure that the required tasks are mapped to the appropriate staff. Regular communications were carried out throughout the project to keep staff informed of how and when they are involved in the project.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Through the end to end Customer Relationship Management capabilities, PA recognises that every customer has unique preferences. This helps PA develop better products to meet customers’ needs. In doing so, PA has established a long term one-to-one relationship with the customers and realise PA’s mission of bringing people together.

The model used for this initiative is definitely replicable to any organization that wants to extend its outreach. PA is currently working with the grassroots leaders to enable them to play a more prominent role to reach out to residents and foster community bonding. PA has set-up the Constituency CRM Committee at the 84 constituencies throughout Singapore to propose action plans on building relationships and delighting customers for the constituency.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
One key critical success factor is strong buy-in from the senior management. Senior management agreed on the need and benefits of implementing the project and hence able to commit the required resources for the project.

As the changes brought by the project are organizational wide, it is important to setup a comprehensive change management programme to ensure both staff as well as our customers are ready for the implementation. The change management programme should be owned by the senior management and supported by change agents at each business unit or division. Having a strong change network is important as it acts as the driving force for ensuring a successful CRM journey.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   People’s Association
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Kia Jin Tan
Title:   Chief Information Officer  
Telephone/ Fax:   63405271
Institution's / Project's Website:   63460233
E-mail:   tan_kia_jin@pa.gov.sg  
Address:   9 Stadium Link
Postal Code:   397750
City:   Singapore
State/Province:  
Country:   Singapore

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