DIMA Annual Report 1996-97

Sub program 4.1: Offshore Service Development, Delivery and Support

Objective

To deliver offshore client services which minimise cost to Government and achieve standards of service.

Description

In 1996-97, departmental visa services were provided through an international network of posts managed from Central Office and through a number of agencies operating on behalf of the Department, with direct link to either overseas posts or a central processing system in Australia.

The Overseas Support Branch provides support to overseas operations across the range of human and financial resources, and information and reporting systems.

Financial and staffing resources summary

	1996-97 Budget and AEs $'000s	1996-97 Actual $'000s	1995-96 Actual $'000s
Budgetary (cash) basis
Components of appropriations
Annual appropriations
Running costs	19 700	18 921	13 207
Other program costs	-	-	-
Total appropriations	19 700	18 921	13 207
Less adjustments	1 156	1 635	1 606
Total outlays	18 544	17 286	11 601
Total revenue	3 700	4 255	3 858
Staffing
Staff years (actual)	220	228	168

Performance information

Outcomes are measured by the extent to which:

1. quality services are provided to clients;
2. the cost effectiveness of overseas operations is maximised; and
3. support services are developed in Australia, to improve the delivery of offshore services.

Performance outcomes

The Department had 711 staff in 83 offices assessing more than 3.5 million visa applications for entry to Australia — 96 per cent of these being for temporary entry.

In addition, thousands of agencies have processed almost half a million visitor and business electronic travel authorities (ETAs).

This compares with 664 staff in 1995-96 assessing 3.3 million applications.

(i) Quality service

In a number of categories, visas have been issued in substantially improved turn-around time. For instance, tourists and business visitors from a number of countries can now be issued with an ETA in a few minutes. Before ETAs were introduced, the turn-around time was 24 hours.

In other categories, as a result of policy changes introduced in some permanent visa classes, processing times have increased.

This was particularly the case for family migration applicants for whom processing times increased in the 12 months to March 1997 by an average of 50 per cent.

In other visa classes, processing times have continued to improve.

Chart 10: Service standards (time based). Processing time for 75 per cent of cases for three visa sub-classes

As part of their focus on client service, overseas posts are providing a more open service to clients by giving information on the progress of their application.

A number of offices have been redesigned to provide better access and service to clients. These new offices are characterised by:

• significant increases in the number of client service contact points;
• reduced waiting areas (because of higher turn-around capacity); and
• new intelligent queuing management systems.

Applying these principles, major new office refurbishments were completed for Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Port Moresby and Islamabad and started in Shanghai and Guangzhou (due for completion in 1997-98).

Minor refurbishment and fit-out works were also undertaken in Ho Chi Minh City, New Delhi, Phnom Penh, Beijing and Beirut.

New intelligent queuing systems were installed in 10 posts, replacing the usually crowded and standing queue arrangements with an orderly environment.

Clients are now streamed by application type and know what waiting times to expect.

(ii) Cost effectiveness

The Department delivered services to a clientele which had increased by seven per cent at a lower processing cost for the bulk of applications.

Additional expenditure was incurred only in some permanent entry visa classes for extra bona fides checking to enhance the integrity of the Migration Program.

The lower processing costs were realised through a strategy encompassing:

• a strategic reduction in the number of Australian-based staff in countries where both local conditions and the skills and competence of local staff enable increasing responsibilities to be devolved to locally engaged staff (LES); and
• a concerted approach to the development of technological innovations, for example, ETA, which support a growing caseload within existing resources.

Chart 11: Cost of visa processing per application at overseas posts

Notes: Unit cost increases in Permanent and Humanitarian Entry classes reflect increased work being undertaken to verify applicant bona fides, and the decreasing application rate.

The marginal increase in visitor visa unit costs in 1996-97 reflects the investment overseas in establishing the Electronic Travel Authority.

Allowances made to 1993-94 and 1994-95 data to take account of superannuation payments (not previously identified as an above the line cost) and the cost of Common Services (paid for by DFAT in 1993-94 and 1994-95).

Does not include provision for the cost of overseas residential and office accommodation paid for by DAS.

Costs relate to departmental post costs and do not include provision for the cost of Central Office policy or operational support.

Temporary Residence figures include Students.

(iii) Support services

Training

Specialised training services for LES were delivered through new regional training units offshore in:

• Bangkok — covering South Asia;
• Hong Kong — covering North Asia;
• Washington — covering Americas;
• Bonn — covering North and East Europe; and
• Paris — covering South and West Europe.

In order to meet the Government objective of strengthening the integrity of the Migration Program (sub-program 1.2 refers), training was delivered on:

• LES delegations;
• lawful and consistent decision making; and
• high quality client service delivery.

Three five-day workshops, on enhanced bona fides assessment, were prepared and held in:

• Athens — from 7 to 11 April for posts in Africa, Europe, Middle East; and
• Bangkok — from 5 to 9 May and 12 to 16 May for posts in Asia.

Reporting

A framework to assist posts to respond to and prioritise demands for reporting, with a view to providing more targeted and timely advice to the Minister and the Executive, was developed, piloted and evaluated.

Topics for the streamlined reports were set by users to ensure that the information provided was targeted to areas of greatest need. After the six-month pilot period, the performance of the framework was assessed:

• users: 89 per cent rated the reports as better or much better than previous arrangements; and
• posts: 64 per cent rated the reports as enabling them to do their reporting work better or much better.

The Overseas Network

An international telecommunications network was introduced to include:

• electronic mail access to link all overseas posts in much the same way as the Department's wide-area network (WAN) works nationally;
• provision of a standard set of office automation products (Microsoft Office) and computer hardware to departmental staff at posts;
• mainframe access to allow overseas offices to directly interrogate departmental mainframe systems; and
• connection of departmental computers overseas to the Department's Immigration Records and Information System (IRIS) through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) non-secure network to allow file transfer, remote log-in and links between systems.

By the end of June 1997, the Department was linked to some 60 posts by electronic mail. More than 30 posts were using Microsoft Office products and some 170 personal computers and 50 laser printers had been supplied to posts. The remaining posts are expected to be connected during 1997-98.

The network has enhanced client service delivery outside and within Australia (in relation to progress on overseas applications) and has enabled posts to more promptly share and address issues of operational concern.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the DFAT and the Department for the provision of these services was signed on 29 April 1997.

Technical agreement with DFAT regarding the next stage to extend Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) and mainframe connectivity was reached at the end of May 1997, with an implementation plan for posts in place with completion due by June 1998.

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