| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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By keeping pace with technology and building up a holistic customer-centric infrastructure, ICA has made it possible for customers to enjoy an enriching and seamless experience when transacting with ICA – from submitting passport applications for Singapore Passport either by post or deposit box, to on-line applications via Application for Passport On-line Electronic System (APPLES), to checking status of application (iEnquiry) and booking an appointment on-line for passport collection (e-Appointment) by their preferred choice of collection channel (counter, Alternate Site or iCollect).
Way back in 1994, customers had preferred face-to-face service encounters with service organizations. However, we had shifted the paradigms of traditional over-the-counter applications, and sparked the idea that passport applications could be sent to us by post, or dropped into deposit boxes at ICA Building. Through educating Singapore citizens on this hassle-free manner of submitting their passport applications, customers were motivated by the convenience brought about by these alternative modes of submission. The success of this initiative was outstanding- by year 2000, five years following the implementation, close to three-quarters of passport applicants were using these application modes instead of submitting their applications over ICA counters.
With the advent of the Internet in the early 2000s, ICA observed a growing size of internet-savvy Singapore citizens and worked out another alternative means for Singapore citizens to submit their passport applications - APPLES, the first e-service in the world to allow photo submission and payment for passport application online. Available 24/7, the online system gives Singapore citizens added flexibility and choice when applying or renewing their passports. It also allows applicants to submit and enquire on their passport applications online, bringing convenience to customers without compromising on our security. With the take-up rate at two per cent when it first started in Mar 2002, APPLES has since won over more than half of the local population applying for Singapore passports.
Not one to be fettered by the norms of passport collection at immigration authorities’ premises, ICA officers broke new ground in redefining conventional wisdom once again, in mid-October 2010, by introducing the option for successful Singapore passport applicants to collect their passports, at a nominal service fee payable to SingPost, from designated SingPost outlets strategically located across the island. Today, the number of participating SingPost outlets offering the collection service has grown from 20 in October 2010 to 30.
With the official launch of iCollect on 01 April 2013, ICA does not see this as the end of the journey for our 3M Service Principle. In fact, there are plans to improve iCollect such as off-site deployment and 24 by 7 operations. Additionally, a downsized version can also be placed at the premises of trusted partners to further enhance the public convenience for collection. ICA will also come up with new initiatives and innovative solutions to further augment our application and collection process.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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ICA’s innovations have always been conceived with our customers as our main stakeholders. For example, with regard to ASC, ICA embarked on a three-month survey with customers applying passport applications and positive feedback was received from satisfied customers on the accessibility of these alternative collection centres and extended operating hour, including Sundays before ASC was officially launched.
Akin to the introduction of ASC, ICA conducted focus group discussions with more than 20 participants from the various work units within ICA. The passport collection cycle on iCollect was simulated for every participant. Thereafter, they immediately filled up a feedback form on their thoughts and suggestions. At the end of the day, a big group discussion was held, where participants actively shared their thoughts and discussed suggestions made. Much constructive feedback was gathered and conveyed to vendor for fine-tuning of the system user interface and the collection process.
Finally, a soft launch was introduced to allow the collection of passports at iCollect by eligible ICA officers and Ministry of Home Affairs’ officers who were applying for passports from 15 May 2012. At the end of the soft launch, over 100 officers and their family members had successfully collected their Singapore passports at iCollect.
The efforts in engaging our partners to roll out these 3M-led initiatives were far-ranging and wide. For instance, ASC was developed in partnership with SingPost. iCollect was developed in close collaboration with our contracted vendor, NEC, and their sub-contractors, Walta Technologies Pte Ltd and an institution of higher learning, i.e. Singapore Polytechnic. Our 3M initiatives therefore promotes partnerships between the public sector, civil society such as the Disabled People’s Association in Singapore (in designing iCollect) as well as the private sector, which is in line with the Singapore government’s directive of promoting the Public and Private Partnership Programme.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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ASC was perceived as a long-term investment to mark the key milestone for 3M Service Principle. With this in mind, ICA bore the set-up costs of the systems/equipment such as passport readers and fingerprint scanners, which was the same set-up of counter system configuration in ICA, for SingPost. ICA’s existing systems were also enhanced to receive real-time status of passport collection processed at ASC outlets. The capital cost incurred was estimated to be S$0.4m per year, and ICA opted to bear the costs to avoid potential exorbitant public fees that private entities might charge if they bore the overheads.
In terms of investment in human resources, ICA set aside dedicated manpower to handle the management of off-site passport collection function for ASC. At the same time, training was conducted for SingPost officers to familiarise them with passport collection procedures. Regular tests and on-site visits were also conducted to ensure that equipment and systems were in running order and requisite security measures were implemented. The espirit-de-corps and aligned goals between the ICA and SingPost ensured that ASC was rolled out smoothly, and well ahead of schedule.
For iCollect, the project was awarded to NEC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd in 2011 at a capital cost of about $1.18 million. This included the design of the machine, in terms of both software and hardware. Similarly to ASC, ICA also dedicated manpower resources to handle the management of passport collection function for iCollect which includes the stringent checks of passports to be loaded into iCollect, daily loading/unloading of passports into/out of iCollect and the tracking of the movement of these passports, including unsuccessful collections.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Overcoming the legal challenges
Prior to the introduction of ASC, the legislations did not allow non-government entities to provide the service for the collection of ICA documents. As the ASC trial would entail the collection of passports, national Identity Cards (IC) and Long Term Pass (LTP) at alternate venues, the relevant legal provisions, namely the Passports Regulations and National Registration Regulations (for ICs) were revised to give ICA greater operational latitude to allow document collection service offered by non-government entities.
Conducting a battery of tests
Many test scenarios such as Factory Acceptance, Site Acceptance, System Integration and User Acceptance Tests that were applied to check the robustness, security and reliability of our innovations contributed to the success and public acceptance of our innovation. As an illustration, iCollect was one of the many innovations which went through the rigorous tests. In addidtion, iCollect was also subjected to possible impersonation attempts such as gummy fingers, twin, and look-alike impersonation attempts. This forged the confidence that the 3M products were capable of delivering the intended service while upholding security.
Garnering public awareness and acceptance
ICA recognises that the success of a new product/service stems from the public awareness level, and the media was actively engaged to gain public acceptance. Coupled with the media publicity efforts, ICA would constantly push the relevant information on the initiatives through our service outreach by including updated information on our website, as well as in other collaterals such as the passport notifications sent out to applicants. It does not come as a surprise, hence, that our 3M services have been viewed favourably in enhancing customers’ delight by its users, as depicted by the rising usage rates and compliments received.
Incentivising customers
Further to capturing public awareness of our service offerings, ICA realised the need to create motivation factors to encourage customer usage. The success equation is therefore a combination of the push factor of convenience of these alternative application modes, coupled with the pull factor of monetary rebates of S$10 for applying by post, by deposit box or by APPLES. For instance, following our introduction of multiple application modes for the Singapore passport, passport applications submitted over the counters stands at less than 3% as of end-2010. This is a remarkable drop from about 70% of counter applications in year 1994 before the commencement of journey for 3M Service Principle.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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For each of the initiatives or systems implemented under the 3M Service Principle, a series of intensive meetings would be conducted with the relevant parties on the design of the system. Following that, User Acceptance Tests (UAT) would be conducted and soft launches would be considered to test the robustness of the new systems.
For ASC, the vendor was selected based on ICA’s Trusted Partner Programme. Under this Programme, SingPost has been ICA’s trusted partner of choice given its track record and established credibility in handling secure items, wide distribution network islandwide and recognised security procedures already in place.
Before moving into full ASC roll-out, ICA took a calibrated approach towards this unprecedented initiative. The team embarked on a trial from February to May 2009 at five designated SingPost outlets to test the ASC concept. The trial was to assess the capacity of a private trusted entity in carrying out an extension of ICA’s function, and to address any security, technical or operational concerns. It also allowed ICA to market test the service take-up rates and demand. The trial ended successfully with positive feedback from both participating customers (Singapore citizens), as well as SingPost.
In terms of iCollect, apart from UATs, stress tests were also conducted. The tests included loading of up to 1,500 passports which are meant for daily collection by requested customers, without any occurrence of hardware or system failure. We took the testing a step further with simulated impersonation attempts for collection of documents during the Site Acceptance Testing. The in-built security checks at iCollect were proven to be able in detecting cases of impersonation.
In order to improve the system from the customer perspective, focus group discussions were conducted with ICA work units to streamline the operational workflow and collection process at iCollect. The passport collection cycle on iCollect was simulated for every participant. Thereafter, they completed feedback forms, as well as shared their opinions in a big group discussion. Much constructive feedback was gathered for fine-tuning of the system user interface and the collection process.
Finally, to ensure the system functionalities to be properly tested before its official launch, a soft launch was introduced to allow the collection of passports at iCollect by eligible officers under the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the end of the soft launch, over 100 officers and their family members had successfully collected their Singapore passports at iCollect.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The issuance of passports is one of ICA’s critical functions with regard to the identification and registration of persons. The integrity of the document issuance process, as well as the preserved confidentiality of the personal particulars on the documents is to be upheld during the offsite issuance of documents.
The underlying security considerations necessitated the compulsory fingerprint verification of an applicant during document collection at the trusted partner’s premises or at iCollect to ensure that the document was issued to the rightful person. To allay public concerns that document collection at alternate sites apart from ICA counters was less secure, the system and procedures for passport collection at ICAB were replicated at SingPost and iCollect. ICA thus has worked on the premise that an applicant intending to collect his document at an alternate site must be present to have his identity authenticated through fingerprint verification witnessed by SingPost Staff and for iCollect, there is an additional facial verification function besides the fingerprint to ensure the identity of the customers collecting the passports.
Apart from security expectations, a main obstacle also lay in the shaping of mental models for public to accept our 3M innovations. Our customers were accustomed to face-to-face transactions. From the launch of ASC and iCollect, ICA rode on public communications platforms to illustrate the ease of passport collection process at alternate sites. This painted a positive picture for citizens and shaped their mental model of collecting the passports at ICAB.
With the pull motivation of the service offering of convenience, as well as the push factors of their hectic lifestyles, a paradigm shift was observed among the populace through the submission and collection of passport.
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