DHA Turnaround StrategyDHA Turnaround Strategy

29 July 2004

Challenges in Re-engineering State Institutions for Enhanced Service Delivery

Background • Department emerging from a very difficult & disruptive period

– Two DGs left in quick succession: Serious tensions previous DG & Minister – paralysingeffect on Department

– Had an acting DG for a long period – controversy & delay in appointing a candidate added to instability

• On top of this, Department has history of severe under-resourcing

– Staffing establishment determined in 1995

– Could not then have anticipated the pressures on immigration management & rendering of civic services

• Provide documents needed by citizens to access govt services such as education, health care, social grants, pensions & housing and to exercise democratic & human rights

• Private sector also relies very heavily on Dept to confirm identity of citizens & foreigners in terms of financial services, employment etc.

• Role in facilitating desired immigration key in promoting economic development, investment, tourism and international relations

• Also plays critical part in preventing undesired immigration – controls who enters and visits our country. Must also prevent illegal immigration – RSA very attractive destination for undocumented foreigners

Critical role of Home Affairs

Home Affairs: A window to our country & Govt• First point of contact of foreigners with South Africans: Immigration officials at

ports of entry

• Their frustrations in standing in our long queues, being exposed to our poor infrastructure and receiving second-class client service invariably shape their perceptions of our country & Government

• Same applies to our citizens - all of them have to utilise services of Home Affairs at some point or another

• Other government departments also highly dependent on Home Affairs service delivery

• DG’s orientation presented opportunity to take stock of state of Home Affairs

• After about four months in office, DG shared his observations with rest of management

• Senior managers agreed that Department would collapse if a comprehensive turnaround programme is not introduced and if substantial additional resources are not obtained

• Three areas of critical capacity that have to be addressed in order to turn the Department around – these cut across all levels and all components of the Department

Turnaround Programme

People

Technology Infrastructure

Critical Capacity Requirements

• Review has been conducted of the Department’s HR requirements

• The study indicated that we need to double our present staff establishment

• Minister has already approved expansion of establishment from 7 500 posts to 11 700 - likely to increase by another 2 500 after review of remaining components

• Only around 6 000 posts presently filled - this will increase to around 6 800 in current fin year

• Additional funding to be provided over medium term

• Staff recruitment project being complemented a number of initiatives

People

• Most of our offices are in a state of disrepair. Some also badly located, perpetuating unequal access to services

• Signage poor, queue management non-existent and acute shortage of basic equipment and furniture…

• Poor quality of infrastructure reflected in the quality of our service delivery

• To address these shortcomings, number of interventions introduced

Infrastructure

• Department is custodian of databases of national importance and administers a large number of laws and regulations – yet it effectively functions in IT pre-history, very much paper-based

• Business processes totally outdated

• Available IT systems have been developed in isolation and are antiquated

• Nothing short of an IT “revolution” therefore needed

• First step has been to plan this revolution – resulted in an IT strategy called “IT ingwe” –consists of a number of complementary projects

• Information Systems Management Board created to ensure that IT systems development are driven by service delivery requirements

Technology

In tegrated C lient Service C onsole

W ork S tationA nd D ig ita l C am era

F ingerp rint R eader

D ocum ent S canner

F ingerp rint S canne r

C ard R eader

P rinte r

D ig ita l S ignature P adB arcode R eader

Other IT Ingwe Projects• Electronic Document Management • & Workflow System• Enterprise Resource Management• Browser-based Systems• Enterprise Systems• IT Security• Information Management• Policies & Procedures• Service Management & Support• Change Management

Key Interventions

• Apart from the three areas of critical capacity, the Turnaround Strategy focuses on the key weaknesses in the Department’s services and processes

• Teams have been formed to focus on all of these

• Not all of them relevant for this discussion, but important to note that each one is an essential building block for the Home Affairs of the future

Other Turnaround Focus Areas

Civic Services

Immigration

GPW

Finance & Procurement

Counter corruption

Lead-ership

Client mgt

Transforming the Immigration Branch • JCPS Cluster has recommended that transformation of SA’s immigration capacity should be

prioritised - At Jan 2004 Lekgotla Cabinet concurred with this recommendation

• Will be a medium to long term programme, but a number of quick wins under way

• Preliminary estimates of costs over short, medium and long term done - working with Treasury in developing phased implementation plan

• Project team formed to unpack in more detail the requirements for a transformed Immigration Branch (particularly personnel & logistical requirements)

• Number of challenges identified

Counter-Corruption • Department is target of criminal syndicates because of the nature of our services• Department also experience “convenience corruption” - clients pay for better service• Holistic plan has been developed in conjunction with partners such as SAPS, NIA, DPSA &

OPSC• Our highest priorities:

– Protecting women against the scourge of fraudulent marriages– Improving our analytical & investigative capability– Effectively communicating our successes in cracking syndicates and bringing perpetrators to book– Developing proper corruption prevention and reporting procedures for both the public and

members of staff – Introducing whistle-blowing mechanisms – Developing partnerships & forums with the private sector (e.g. Banking Council) aimed at

countering corruption involving Home Affairs documents/services– Dealing decisively with corrupt officials

Client Management • Need to instill a client-centred approach in the way that Department operates

• Preparations under way to establish a Client Service Centre

• Beat practice project: Queue management, signage and corporate colours

• “Client is always right” campaign

• These, together with our efforts to improve our work environment, processes, systems, equipment etc should make a major contribution to improved service delivery

Review of Successes & Challenges• Projects review recently undertaken to assess progress made by

respective project teams in terms of milestones agreed upon and intended impact

• Highlighted challenges and constraints experienced by the individual projects

• Identified trends and cross-cutting issues

• Evaluated management of the Turnaround programme as a whole and specifically, the role of the Turnaround Programme Office

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• Program & Project Management

– Project team members stretched between line-function work and project work: Impacting on those who started out enthusiastically

– Initially 64 projects identified - varied in size, scope, complexity & impact– Reporting on so many projects tedious & their resourcing challenging– Have proposed that only the “critical few” be managed in a more formal way -

other change initiatives to be normal line management responsibility– Reporting system introduced for all strategic issues and change initiatives - to

be expanded into a comprehensive M & E system – New program & project governance structure under consideration - this

includes a project management centre of excellence

Cross-cutting Challenges

Cross-cutting Challenges• Business Process Reengineering and Restructuring

– Creation of the new structure for the DHA has placed pressure on the BPR function to assess roles and change the existing processes

– Many of the current processes that are employed in the core functions of the DHA can be improved and these changes to processes will enhance efficiency and effectiveness

– Need for IT to understand the business requirements based on improved rather than outdated processes and develop the IT system development timetable based on business needs

– The TAS requires a new organisation of work. This includes reviewing and updating of job classification, design and grading

Cross-cutting Challenges• Communications Function

– The Turnaround Strategy proposes the creation of a new way of thinking and operating. The breadth and depth of the change has not been recognised by all staff and many who are in the provinces have gone on with their lives and seen little change

– Communications function of DHA has a central role to play in communicating with both staff and external stakeholders

– Need to focus on:• Strategic changes and their implementation• Interactive two-way communication

Cross-cutting Challenges• Change Management

– The TAS is a massive transformation process and change programme

– Need to coordinate and consolidate change management and transformation activities - ensure change is integrated/facilitated and a holistic approach is adopted

– Information sharing, gaining knowledge and understanding of the organisation required to facilitate change - give people the power to contribute and adapt the vision of leadership

– Need for creating knowledge and learning

Cross-cutting Challenges• Teaming

– Start teaming in own business unit and in projects where team members depend on colleagues and trust their delivery

– Need for managers/staff/team members to know how to talk, support, listen to each other and know how to solve problems together

• Leadership

– The challenge of changing leadership practices is integral to the TAS - need for leadership development throughout the organisation

Cross-cutting Challenges• Understaffing

– Employment of additional staff at all levels a dependency affecting service delivery and morale

– The ability of the DHA to attract and retain staff who are committed to the change process is critical for long term sustainable transformation

– Recruitment of additional managers key to strengthening capacity and sustain change initiatives

Cross-cutting Challenges• Performance and Development Management

– Performance management (both organisation and individual) as support to drive service standards and meet delivery measures

– Clarify performance expectations across organisation

– Recognise employees for their contributions

– Address development needs

Cross-cutting Challenges• Integrated Plan to Expand Capacity

– All indications are that significant additional resources will be forthcoming in the next 3 to 5 years

– An integrated plan to expand the department’s capacity in all of the above related areas is required

– The need for such a plan has been recognised in the Strategic Plan, however the challenge lies in its implementation

Conclusion

• Turnaround Strategy ambitious but absolutely necessary

• DHA can’t do it alone

• Number of partnerships already formed. Include DPSA, CPSI, DPW, Stats SA, BAC, IOM, UNHCR

• Request colleagues to join hands with us– Website: www.dha.gov.za– E-mail: corrie.smit@dha.gov.za