CASE STUDY 4 Indonesian Government August 2014 Page 1
Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 3 1 CUSTOMER NAME... 4 2 BUSINESS CASE BUSINESS DRIVERS... 4 3 CHALLENGE... 4 4 SOLUTION DESCRIPTION... 5 5 IMPLEMENTATION OVERVIEW... 6 5.1 Objectives... 7 5.2 Test Scenarios... 7 5.3 Results Measurement... 7 5.4 Timeline... 7 5.5 Government Involvement... 8 5.6 Vendor Involvement... 8 5.7 Airline involvement... 8 5.8 Airport Involvement... 8 5.9 Circumstances Requiring Special Development... 8 6 RESULTS / IMPACT STATEMENT... 9 6.1 Efficiency Improvements... 9 6.2 Cost Avoidance / Savings %... 9 6.3 Customer satisfaction... 9 7 PHOTOS, VIDEOS... 10 8 LESSONS LEARNT... 11 8.1 Pros & Cons... 11 8.2 Considerations... 11 9 BEST PRACTICES... 11 August 2014 Page 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This case study includes two separate projects to automate border clearance in Indonesia: Phase 1 was launched in January 2010. Aimed at foreign nationals, a highly innovative inflight visa issuance service and border clearance was introduced, believed to be the only one of its kind in the airline industry worldwide. Visa issuance and border clearance are handled by immigration officers on-board certain Garuda flights, eliminating the need for passengers to queue on arrival to purchase a visa sticker, before queuing a second time to clear border control. Whilst not a conventional ABC solution, this automated approach to visa issuance is a very interesting concept worth considering for those airlines whose countries operate a visa issuance on arrival system. Phase 2 was launched in January 2013. Aimed at Indonesian nationals, conventional gates were installed in Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. These gates use fingerprints in order to identify the traveler. Phase 3, delivered in January 2014, provided additional gates at Bali s Denpasar Airport. A fourth phase is set to include further airports, as well as seaports in Indonesia. These projects, described in detail below, were delivered by 3M and its partner, local Systems Integrator, Oakwell Engineering Ltd from Singapore. August 2014 Page 3
1 CUSTOMER NAME Indonesian State Airline, PT Garuda Indonesia. Indonesian Imigrasi. 2 BUSINESS CASE BUSINESS DRIVERS The principal drivers behind these projects have been: To reduce delays at immigration. To create additional capacity, especially during the high tourist season when visitor volumes are at their peak. To increase security. By routing national citizens through the ABC gates, immigration officers in-flight and on the ground have more time to deal with foreign nationals. To simplify the process for visa purchase without losing valuable revenue, yet reducing the stress of passengers. To improve first impressions of Indonesia as a high end tourist destination. To increase tourism in Indonesia. The in-flight visa clearance service specifically supports flag carrier Garuda s expansion of its holiday business, in conjunction with its Japanese local subsidiary and partner Good Luck Tour Co, promoting ecotourism and adventure and special interest holidays in Indonesia. 3 CHALLENGE A number of challenges were encountered. Some of the main ones have been: Designing an alternative visa issuance system that eliminates the need to queue at the airport of arrival in Indonesia, whilst not creating new queues elsewhere or losing revenue. Finding a mobile platform that was both affordable and ergonomic. Off-the-shelf mobile devices can provide an inexpensive base unit, but the addition of the various peripherals to be carried or worn by the officers on board makes the overall solution unergonomic. A specialist handheld device was needed with the necessary modules for identity management. Linked to this is the issue of battery life, whereby there is a balance to be struck between a large battery that can process more passengers, and the weight of the device in the hand. Transfer of data collated onboard without delaying the passenger. The aircraft do not offer real time data transfer to the ground in real time, so the challenge was to transmit data collected from the mobile unit to the Border Control watch list system for verification quickly enough so as not to delay the passenger. August 2014 Page 4
Forecasting how many gates would be needed to process the appropriate number of passengers. Only a very small percentage of Indonesian nationals have an epassport. In the initial deployment, take up of the ABC system was low. However, the fingerprint records of those passengers with Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) are held on a government database against the passport number so, in an enhancement of the system, this database was later accessed for biometric matching, in order to allow more passengers to use the ABC system. Installing and commissioning the gates without creating delays in an already-busy airport. Creating an overall gate management console and gate management software infrastructure, whereby progress at each gate can be managed in clusters, at airport level and on a national level from a national control room. Ensuring that the solution is affordable for the customer. 4 SOLUTION DESCRIPTION The concept of the in-flight visa issuance service was to provide non-queue immigration for foreign travelers, who could now avoid long delays at the airport of arrival and enjoy a hassle free experience. The solution is only available on flights of more than 4 hours and makes use of dead time when the passenger is en-route during the flight. At the time of check-in at the airport of departure, passengers are invited to purchase a visa voucher at the usual price. Passengers then board the aircraft as usual. During the flight, designated immigration officers on-board move around the aircraft and conduct visa processing. Using a handheld computer equipped with an OCR swipe reader and a mobile printer connected by Bluetooth, the officers first read the passport and RFID chip. A rules engine programmed into the application maintains the visa requirement rules for every nationality thereby eliminating the need for the officer to remember these. A black list of persons of interest is held on the computer and the names compared. Both the rules engine and black list are regularly updated. Assuming there is no match, the visa voucher or pass is scanned and a visa sticker is adhered into the passport. The pass shows that the passenger has already been processed for visa and border control purposes and can now leave the airport without further inspection. Finally a report is created for all the passengers on the flight. In order to offer Indonesian nationals considered to be potentially lower risk the possibility of clearing border control in a shorter time, autogates were installed in January 2013 starting in Jakarta Airport. The gates selected are the two-gate variety, whereby passengers are first instructed from a monitor to place their passport on an epassport reader whilst standing outside of the first gate. The passport is checked and, assuming it is a valid Indonesian epassport with a functioning chip, the fingerprint is extracted using Extended Access Control. At this point the first door opens and the passenger walks into the man-trap. In front of the second gate, instructions on a second monitor tell the passenger to place his finger on a fingerprint reader. The fingerprint is matched to the fingerprint on the epassport and crosschecked against a watch list before the second door is opened. The facial image is also captured for records purposes, although no matching is done here. Two cameras are used to allow passengers of 1.2 metres to 2 metres height to use the system. Additional lighting is provided for ideal illumination of the face. August 2014 Page 5
A UV lamp above the fingerprint reader cleans the reader of germs before the next person enters. Groups of 4 or 5 ABC gates are connected to a monitoring console, which is watched by an operator. The operator can see the stage of each gate as well as its operational status and is able to override the system if necessary, opening or closing a gate 5 IMPLEMENTATION OVERVIEW The system was launched initially for flights from Japan, and has been rolled out for flights from Korea, Australia, Hong Kong and China. Around 60 handheld Mobile ID readers supplied by 3M are used on-board, two units per flight. There devices are easy to handle and are equipped with a touchscreen alphanumeric keyboard, OCR passport reader and optional fingerprint reader The battery operation of the 3M Mobile ID reader enables use in any situation whilst the in-built processing capability allows real-time verification of documents, data and individuals. The unit also has a wide range of wireless interface options, integral data storage and optional biometric devices. For Garuda the readers are mounted on the food trolley. Each officer carries a Bluetooth-enabled mobile printer, capable of printing around 120 pass cards per roll of paper. Training for all the appointed immigration officers was within the scope of the project. August 2014 Page 6
Following a very successful proof-of-concept, the project was contracted with a very ambitious 4 months project time. The ABC gates took 3 months to manufacture. During this time the Systems Integrator worked with one unit on site with the local Border Control partner to create all the interfaces to the Border Control and watch list systems. Following manufacture 10 gates were installed during month 4. Training of personnel took 2 weeks. Included in this was the training of hosts for an initial 6 months, to assist and encourage passengers to use the ABC gates. 5.1 Objectives Elimination of delays at Border Control to purchase visa stickers. Increased tourist satisfaction. Biometric watch list processing. Promotion of travel with Garuda Airlines. Less queuing for passengers holding epassports. Accurate biometric matching. 5.2 Test Scenarios During the three months of manufacture of the serial units, extensive software testing took place. A factory acceptance test was also carried out on the hardware by the Systems Integrator. 5.3 Results Measurement After installation, a number of metrics were monitored in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the system. Speed of operation was an obvious first metric. Qualitative feedback was sought from the immigration officers overseeing the equipment, which led to the identification of some quality issues with the LCD screens. These were subsequently replaced with another brand. Additionally a number of defective epassports were identified, and the numbers of these were collated by fault type. 5.4 Timeline 4 months total, including 3 months for manufacturing, testing and development plus 1 month for installation and commissioning plus 2 weeks of training. August 2014 Page 7
5.5 Government Involvement The project plan was managed locally by Oakwell Engineering Ltd, liaising with the Government s own Project Director. The Border Agency were involved throughout and were essential with the development of the interface to external government systems. The government was also involved with testing, quality assurance and the final sign off. 5.6 Vendor Involvement 3M supply of hardware Oakwell Engineering Ltd software integration Oakwell Engineering Ltd. prime Systems Integrator. Also responsible for gate maintenance. 3M developer of the ABC software and system monitoring console, passport readers and biometrics software IST- manufacturer of ABC gate hardware PT Sigma integrator for border control. Also responsible for software maintenance and support. 5.7 Airline involvement Garuda is the only participating airline for this solution No specific airline involvement. The system is open to passengers of all airlines. 5.8 Airport Involvement The airport was an essential stakeholder in the delivery of the project, including logistics planning, clearing the space in the immigration hall, leveling the floor for the gate hardware and providing power and cable trunking. 5.9 Circumstances Requiring Special Development Developing the interface with external systems. This is always different for every project. The logistic issue of moving the ABC gates physically into the airport and onto final site. This needs to be worked through thoroughly, from the car park to the resting place, including consideration of all corridors, lifts etc Having the floor leveled. This need was not anticipated. August 2014 Page 8
6 RESULTS / IMPACT STATEMENT 6.1 Efficiency Improvements Massive reduction of queues at Border Control. Early detection of those individuals on a watch list. Better management of visa payment collection. Due to the limited number of epassports issued, the full impact is not realized yet. The government of Indonesia has implemented these ABC gates in preparation for the massive epassport roll out that will happen in 2015 when they stop issuance of MRP passports. Reduction of queue as a lot of tourist has been cleared on board Garuda. Early detection of those individuals on a watch list. Better management of visa payment collection. Faster clearance for epassport holders. 6.2 Cost Avoidance / Savings % Many ABC projects refer to cost savings being achieved as a result of job reductions in border officers. In Indonesia where wages are relatively low, salaries have not been the main driver. Rather the increase in passenger throughput through an old airport with limited capacity has been the main benefit, in that expansion of capacity has been delayed. 6.3 Customer satisfaction The success of in-flight visa clearance is demonstrated by the increase in market share Garuda has achieved on qualifying flights In the early phases, only those passengers with epassport could use the system, which caused dissatisfaction amongst passengers holding MRP passports. The new solution that includes passengers with MRPs is expected to generate much better levels of satisfaction, but this will only be measureable after a further 6 months operation. August 2014 Page 9
7 PHOTOS, VIDEOS Handheld document reader with Bluetooth printer Two ABC gates viewed on the day of opening at Jakarta Airport August 2014 Page 10
8 LESSONS LEARNT 8.1 Pros & Cons The solution was made possible of the co-operation between government, the tourist board and the airline, all of which are in state ownership. The determination of the government to make this work for the economic benefit of Indonesia has driven the project. Indonesian government is satisfied with the system and aims to extend it both to other airports and seaports. The 4 month project plan was much too tight and allowed no scope for unforeseen events. Initial take-up in Jakarta, where there was no hosting, was slow. However in Bali the gates were hosted and take-up was much faster. Passengers were given free coffee vouchers to encourage them to try the system. 8.2 Considerations Take care to quantify the number/proportion of passengers with the appropriate document types eligible to use the system. Construct a realistic timeline that allows for unforeseen events. Integration with other government systems can be challenging. Check the quality of existing biometric records to be validated against. 9 BEST PRACTICES Hosting of ABC gates during the initial months, to encourage people to use them. Promotion of the solution in the media and at the airport. Clear signage. August 2014 Page 11